The First 3 Minutes Of Tryouts

Before a coach sees a single shot go up, he’s already forming an opinion about you come tryouts. From how early you show up, to how you carry yourself through the front door, introduce yourself to teammates and coaches, warm up and everything in between, coaches are paying close attention to your every move. For some players, this will expose their biggest weakness and give them almost no shot at making the time, while for others, it can be the biggest separator.

DeVenzio wrote about this in Think Like a Champion under a chapter most players would never think to read before a tryout: Seat Selections. His point wasn’t really about chairs when he wrote…

“Few people, particularly athletes, give much thought to choosing a seat when walking into a classroom or meeting room or auditorium for the first time. But the seat you pick says a lot about you and the person you have decided to be, whether you realize it or not.”

— Dick DeVenzio, Think Like a Champion, Ch. 86: Seat Selections

Swap “seat” for “spot in the layup line” and the lesson lands exactly the same. A player who walks in with his head down, earbuds in until the last possible second, and a flat expression in warmups has already told the coach something… I’m too cool to drop my ego at the door.

The Smallest Signal In The Gym That Reveals So Much About You

That same player who is too cool for school, will almost certainly consider this next gesture as being too small or insignificant to matter, yet it’s something Dick DeVenzio (founder of PGC and one of the greatest minds in basketball to ever live) devoted an entire chapter of his book ‘STUFF Good Players Should Know’ to. So needless to say, it must be important:

“Nodding to your coach will give him that little bit of extra satisfaction that will urge him to do his best—he’s only human, too—and to keep helping and working with you. … Just a slight tilt of recognition and eye contact that says, ‘I’ve got it, Coach.’”

— Dick DeVenzio, STUFF Good Players Should Know, Ch. 94: Nod to the Coach

Nobody puts a checkmark next to “nodded at coach today” on a stat sheet but you sure as heck better keep track of it yourself because if it’s important to coach, it must be important to you too. Every coach notices a nod, appreciates it, and keeps note of it in the same way he or she is making note of how you show up in the first 3 minutes.

How To Reduce Your “Anxiety” At Tryouts

If you take a look around the gym just prior to tryouts kicking off, you’ll probably notice some players look completely at ease (smiling, talking with teammates, and moving through warmups with quiet confidence), while others look tense. Their shoulders are tight, their movements feel rushed, and every missed warmup shot seems to confirm the fear that’s been building in their minds for days.

From the outside, it looks as though one group is naturally confident while the other simply struggles with nerves.

But appearances can be deceiving.

See, confidence isn’t something that suddenly appears when the whistle blows. Long before the first drill begins, every player is carrying the weight of the preparation they’ve invested—or neglected—over the previous weeks and months. Those first few minutes of tryouts don’t create confidence. They reveal it.

That’s why PGC has always encouraged players to think differently about pressure. The goal is not to become fearless. The goal is to become so thoroughly prepared that pressure no longer feels unfamiliar. If you are feeling a bit underprepared, watch this…

WATCH: How To Maximize Your Preseason Training

For Coaches: Your Evaluation Begins Before Basketball Does

Long before the first drill begins, your players are already telling you who they are.

They’re telling you through the way they walk into the gym. Through their body language during introductions. Through the way they respond when you explain the first drill. Through how they interact with teammates they may have never met before. Before a basketball is even dribbled, you’ve already started collecting valuable information about who is ready to contribute to your culture.

That’s why it’s worth sending your players a quick reminder before tryouts begin. Something along the lines of:

“Your evaluation starts the moment you walk through that door, not when I blow the whistle.”

That statement immediately shifts a player’s attention away from trying to impress you with highlights and toward demonstrating the habits that actually build trust.

As you observe the gym, look for the behaviors that reveal character before talent. Which player introduces themselves to a teammate standing alone? Who encourages someone after a missed shot? Who immediately applies a coaching correction without needing to be reminded? Who sprints to the next drill? Those moments may seem small, but they’re often far more predictive of future success than the first few baskets made during a scrimmage.

At the same time, don’t ignore the warning signs. Lazy effort, poor body language, showing off instead of celebrating teammates, or repeatedly failing to listen to instruction are all habits worth paying attention to. Left unaddressed, they often become bigger issues once the season begins.

That doesn’t mean you should immediately write those players off.

Some athletes simply haven’t been taught a different standard.

One of the most valuable things you can do during tryouts is pull a player aside after the first session and be completely honest. Explain exactly what concerned you and, more importantly, explain what improvement would look like during the second tryout. Great coaches don’t just evaluate players—they develop them. Sometimes the most important coaching moment of the season happens before the roster is ever finalized.

• Give players a specific pre-drill routine to run so “look locked in” becomes something they can actually rehearse, not just something you hope for.

For Parents: The Car Ride Home

“What was going through your mind in the three minutes before tryouts actually started?”

This question does something most car rides skip entirely: it gets your player talking about the mental rep instead of only the physical one. The three minutes before the whistle are invisible to you as a parent watching from the bleachers — but they’re often the loudest three minutes in your player’s head. Ask about them directly.

This Week’s Challenge

Script your own first three minutes at your next practice or open gym: what time you’ll arrive, who you’ll talk to first, how you’ll carry your body in the layup line, and one deliberate nod the next time your coach corrects you.

You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, but you do get to decide, in advance, exactly what that first impression will be.

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