Tryouts don't build your habits. They expose them. I've watched a thousand kids walk into a gym this time of year believing the coach is grading their highlights. The step-back three. The and-one. The move that gets everybody on the sideline talking. The coach isn't watching for that. The coach is watching for the kid who dives for the loose ball nobody's filming. Who sprints back after the turnover instead of hanging their head. Who's talking on ball screens before anybody tells them to. Who's the first one in front of the coach when the whistle blows, ready to listen. That's not talent. That's habit. And habit is the only thing a coach can actually trust in January, when the gym's empty and the game's on the line. Here's the truth: you didn't start building your tryout habits this week. You started months ago — every sprint nobody clocked, every rep you gave full effort on when it "didn't matter." Pressure doesn't raise your game to a new standard. It reveals the standard you a...