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Player personnel criteria

March 16, 2006 - World Basketball Association (WBA)
Murfreesboro Musicians News Release


By Coach Steve C. Tucker, Head Coach, Murfreesboro Musicians-WBA

(Now I cannot speak for every coach in the WBA, but with the WBA League Tryout Camp coming up, this is what we look for in players who will play for our Murfreesboro Musicians!)

In locating player personnel, it is imperative that we find the best players that fit the mold of what we are looking for in a player and a person. Not everyone fits into this mold and we must carefully screen the players that we are interested in to make sure that they fit every characteristic that we set forth in looking for the players who will fill our roster. This is difficult at times, for it is very hard to find players who fit into the mold of every area we look for in a player. It takes patience, hard work, and meticulous checking. There can be no short cuts in this most important area, for that is the surest way to fail! It is easy to find talented players, for at this level all players have talent! Now is their talents on the same level as the players within our League? That is one of the questions we must answer! But their are so many other areas we must look at in filling the player personnel needs for our Professional Basketball Franchise:

ABILITY: As I mentioned before, players at this level must be able to play the game of basketball at a high level of skill & athleticism! There is no substitute for ability!!! Players either have the level of skill we are looking for or they don't. You cannot give a player ability! And you must carefully evaluate a players skill level before you move on with the process of looking at this player to see if he fits the mold of a player that we want as a part of our Team & Franchise.

WORK ETHIC: We want players on our Team who are going to work hard both in games and in practices. There is no substitute for hard work, and any time we are on the playing court we want our players working to improve their individual skills, so they can help our Team become the best it can be. We must have players who will push themselves and who have great desire & internal drive! We don't want a player who only plays hard when our coaching staff is pushing him, but we want players who will push themselves. Those are the kinds of players who "WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!"

PLAYERS WHO ARE COACHABLE: Our players will be coachable! They will be open to coaches working with them in every way. We will only be successful if a player allows us to coach him to improve his skills, and if the players on our Team allow us as coaches to mold them into a fine tuned unit that works well together in every way! Then & only then, we will allow ourselves the opportunity to achieve Success as a Team.

CHARACTER: We want Players with Character on our Team, and not players who are characters!!! You only succeed with players of High Character! Every player who is a part of our Team & Franchise will have Great Character that is conducive to Winning! They must be Responsible, Trustworthy, Morally Sound, Honest, and Loyal!!! There will be no room on our Team or within our Franchise for anyone who does not fulfill all of these most important characteristics.

GOOD CITIZENS & ROLE MODELS: Any player within our Team must represent our Franchise with Honor & Integrity both on and off the playing court! We want players who will represent our Professional Basketball Franchise well in our community, and who will be looked up to by everyone who follows and supports our Pro Hoops Team.

PLAYERS WITH HEART, DRIVE, & COURAGE: We want players with Big Hearts, who Drive Themselves, and Will our Team to "WIN!" There is no greater element in a True Warrior & Winner than Heart and Drive!!! For this player, never gives into defeat, and he always finds a way to "WIN!" We want players who have Courage, who are not afraid to look straight at failure with no fear of it, and who will push themselves & their teammates beyond failure and to Success...

TEAM PLAYERS: We want Players who are Happier for a Teammates Success than their very own!!! Players like that will work with all other players on our Team with one ultimate goal in mind, and that is the Success of our Basketball Team! Unselfish players like this make up Special Teams, and that is what WE want to have! For Special Teams, "WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS", and that is what WE want to do; "WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS, TROPHIES, & SET A STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE FOR ALL OTHERS TO FOLLOW..."

WINNERS: We look for players who have a Winning Background, and who have been a part of Winning Teams & Programs! Those kinds of players expect to Win, and will always do what it takes to Win! Winning is habit forming, unfortunately so is losing! We only want Winners on our Team and within our Franchise, who will accept nothing less than being "THE BEST!"

PLAYERS WHO ARE TOUGH: Along with ability must be Toughness! We want players who will not back down from any challenge of any kind! Our players must have both Mental & Physical Toughness. They must be able to adapt to every situation, and find a way to overcome adversity. I have seen during my career & I know you have too players who had great skills, but who were weak mentally, physically, or both in reference to toughness. Those players most always fail on a consistent basis! Players that make up our Team will be both Mentally & Physically Tough! They will accept the challenge and work in every way to Adapt & Overcome whatever confronts him or our Team.

PLAYERS WHO WANT TO BE PART OF A TEAM: Players on our Team must be players who want to be part of a Team & Family! Our entire Professional Basketball Franchise is a Basketball Family!!! Every Player on our Team will have a role that will be defined & communicated to him by our Coaching Staff.

For our Team to reach our Goals as a Team and to achieve Success, every Player must be willing to accept his role on our Team! He must put everything else aside in our quest to be the best Professional Basketball Team & Franchise within our League!

So as you can see, it is difficult to find players who possess all of these qualities! But when you do, you truly have a Special Player, and Special Players make up Special Teams!!! Fortunately during my coaching career I have been able to locate, recruit, sign, & coach many players like the ones I have described for you. Now, I'm not going to try to make you believe that every player I've coached has been just like this and fits all of these categories, but the ones who have stayed with me have! I do not settle for anything less than what I've laid out for you here! I am Honest, Loyal, Consistent, & Straight Forward with everyone within our Organization. I am demanding, and I will not settle for less than the best a player can offer our Team & Franchise! Those players who do not fulfill the areas laid out above end up playing somewhere else or not playing at all. I will Guarantee you that our Team will always Play Hard & Together. We will work as "ONE" in our Efforts & Drive to "WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS..."

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World Basketball Association Stories from March 16, 2006


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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