Freddy Sion
Staff Writer '20
This year's Basketball tryouts definitely proved to be an interesting time. According to Coach Connolly, the Girls Basketball team had an “excellent, great turnout", yet there were also "a bunch of cuts.” Expectations for student athletes did not stray far from their original estimates, but one thing that the boys and girls debated in the Large Gym, was the amount of cuts that had to be made to ensure the best possible outcome for the teams this year. For freshman Sean Eliassi, “The team size was pretty much what I expected” while returning sophomore Sean Mcaward contrasted, saying “...tryouts were super competitive compared to last year". Coaches did not fail to surprise GNN as they posted the results; the 2016 Boys Varsity squad is composed of all juniors, with the exception of one senior. Talk about surprising!
In other words, recurring athletes faced greater challenges in tryouts than they were used to. Eliassi noted that many were “tired out from the large amount of conditioning drills", while Mcaward added that coaches “worked very hard with different drills to keep us in shape by doing sprinting and exercising". But just how hard are these people pushed? Coach C. stated that North is the “2nd most difficult on county teams, we end up playing Nassau County because we are really good". Coaches made their selections based on many factors, but the main elements they looked for were the student’s motivation and desire to work for the team. Students were chosen based upon execution of fundamental skills and past dedication and work on the team. After a long day of tryouts, “coaches ended each day saying something along the lines of: ‘My least favorite part of the job is making cuts, it’s not something I like to do, and I hope you don't get discouraged from playing basketball just because you didn't make the team this year.”
Staff Writer '20
This year's Basketball tryouts definitely proved to be an interesting time. According to Coach Connolly, the Girls Basketball team had an “excellent, great turnout", yet there were also "a bunch of cuts.” Expectations for student athletes did not stray far from their original estimates, but one thing that the boys and girls debated in the Large Gym, was the amount of cuts that had to be made to ensure the best possible outcome for the teams this year. For freshman Sean Eliassi, “The team size was pretty much what I expected” while returning sophomore Sean Mcaward contrasted, saying “...tryouts were super competitive compared to last year". Coaches did not fail to surprise GNN as they posted the results; the 2016 Boys Varsity squad is composed of all juniors, with the exception of one senior. Talk about surprising!
In other words, recurring athletes faced greater challenges in tryouts than they were used to. Eliassi noted that many were “tired out from the large amount of conditioning drills", while Mcaward added that coaches “worked very hard with different drills to keep us in shape by doing sprinting and exercising". But just how hard are these people pushed? Coach C. stated that North is the “2nd most difficult on county teams, we end up playing Nassau County because we are really good". Coaches made their selections based on many factors, but the main elements they looked for were the student’s motivation and desire to work for the team. Students were chosen based upon execution of fundamental skills and past dedication and work on the team. After a long day of tryouts, “coaches ended each day saying something along the lines of: ‘My least favorite part of the job is making cuts, it’s not something I like to do, and I hope you don't get discouraged from playing basketball just because you didn't make the team this year.”