Wishing...

Wishing. This is the step during which I look back on my inquiry and evaluate. How did I do? What could I have done better? Can I continue this in the future?

Overall, I think I developed a very workable tryout plan, especially considering that I have no formal coaching experience. I have never run a tryout before; I have simply participated as a player. I do think that I came up with a good final product, especially with the addition of the explanatory Power Point presentation. This is not only helpful for my peers to read it, but I could also use it in the future for fellow coaches who are unfamiliar with my drills.

As satisfied as I am with my tryout plan, I do realize that many questions and variables remain:

- What happens if I get into a situation where I have not already seen my players perform at tryout time? The situation I have in mind is one in which I am thrown into a coaching position right before the season starts. I may have to extend my tryouts beyond three days. However, I could re-consult the sources I used for more drill ideas.

- What if I am working in a large district and have a huge number of girls try out? I may have to extend my tryouts to accomodate this in order to effectively evaluate each girl.

- What if I do not have very many assistant coaches to help me run tryouts? Many of the drills require several coaches to run them and evaluate. I may have to extend tryouts so I can evaluate each girl.

I also realize that this plan is suited specifically for tryouts. What will I do once I have a team in place and need to run practices? I think that my tryout plan gives a rough skeleton of how practices can proceed. I can use some of the drills - after all, they do work with the fundamentals of the game - and build in other drills from my sources or that I may pick up along the way between now and when I have my own team. I think a lot of variables remain, especially because I do not know at which level I will be coaching. I could have a freshman, junior varsity, or varsity team. I think that with this tryout plan I have a good blueprint to begin my softball coaching career and that the rest will fall into place along the way.