The
sound of shoes squeaking on the court. The smell of popcorn in the air. The
chants and screams of a packed gym. Normally I would be saying that this is the
type of environment that I love to play in, which it is. However, I have found
out that this is pretty sweet environment to coach in. For about the past four
years my basketball coach, Delmar, has asked me to help him with his youth
basketball league. When I first started out, I would only keep score. Delmar
slowly let me start to referee basketball games and I thought that was the best
thing to do.
This
year, however, Delmar’s wife Jme was telling me that they were short a couple
coaches for the third through fifth grade age group and she asked if I would be
interested in coaching a team. Of course, I agreed to it. After recruiting Zach
as an assistant coach, we got out roster and headed to our first practice. We
both showed up early not knowing what to expect from our team. As we start
doing some warm up drills we were pretty quick to find out who on our team knew
what they were doing and who would need some extra attention. As practice
continues on we discover just how good our team is. We come to find out that we
might have the best player in our age group. This one player, who we call
Bubba, is crazy good. He can dribble between the legs and behind the back, make
tough passes, and shoot perfect swishes.
As you
can probably guess, Zach and I were pretty excited to have Bubba on our team
and we could not wait until our first game two weeks later. However, a week later, at practice, Bubba
came up to us with a sad look on his face. He told us that he could not be at
our game that week because he was going out of town. I am not even going to lie to you guys; this
really scared Zach and I. Bubba was the player that got everyone to score, so
we were worried how we would do without him. However, everything turned out good.
All of the rest of our players stepped up and we won by six.
My team
of third through sixth graders taught me a lesson that day. Yes, they knew that
it would be hard to win without Bubba, but they never gave up. They all
believed that if they each did the best they could that we would win. I, on the
other hand, was not as optimistic. This team of little kids taught me that you
can never give up. You just need to believe in yourself and that you can
accomplish all your goals and then you have to go out there and work your
hardest, then will you reach your goal.
I liked your story about coaching. I have helped my dad coach a little kid basketball team before and it is not as easy as it sounds. I think that this lesson can be applied to anyone. All we have to do is to do our best and never give up and we can accomplish most things that we put our hand to. I think that it was a blessing for your team to have Bubba gone, because it gave the rest of the team a chance to really shine and to show what they are made of. If we just try our hardest, we will be successful.
ReplyDeleteCoaching really is a blessing Nate. Similar to Jesse and I, we have much more competitive standpoint than that of the other coaches. Two of our star players told us that they are going to be out of town for the state basketball games, we were devastated. We would like the honor of saying that we did not lose a single game, even at the youth level. Our players are also a huge reflection of Jesse and I, they have that “we’re going to win every game mentality.” We often catch our players talking about it between themselves. Hopefully, our players don’t become as devastated as Jesse and I if we were to lose a game.
ReplyDeleteI love how willing you were to volunteer yourself to help another. This part of the story can tell a lot on its own. The desire to participate and help another is essential. Too often, I feel that the option of not acting is becoming more and more desirable. I hope to become more open minded towards opportunities less self-gaining.
ReplyDeleteThe message you give on positivity is pretty amazing as well. It sounds to me that you have bonded well with these basketball players and have devoted interest in there games. Keep up the good work with these boys and never stop learning as well as teaching! (Bro. Miller:). Thank you for your devotion.
Nathan, I have yet to experience the life of a coach and as I end my season of sports I am very interested in helping out other athletes to become a player of a game I once enjoyed to be playing. I hope that where ever I am that I will be able to coach young athletes and give them a point or two to become better and the game. I have learned that repetition is a big key to sports and the coaches of the game are the ones that organize the practice and give you the great opportunity of becoming a great team. I am really looking forward to coaching like you have. I think that in sports we will always learn something even if we have played it for over twelve years. There will always be a lesson to learn and a new way to win because there isn’t one perfect way to play or win the game.
ReplyDelete