The end of the first full week of practice is coming to a close as we prepare to have a couple of scrimmages tomorrow (Saturday) morning. This week’s practices have had its shares of ups and downs. Sometimes I think it is coming together and sometimes I wonder if it ever will. For the most part it was a frustrating week as we are not as far along into learning the system as I had hoped we would be. There is just so much they need to learn. And yet, sometimes I wonder if the girls even know they have a lot to learn.
But just when I needed it the most, I got a few positive words of affirmation that lifted my spirits. First, my athletic director stopped me and told me to tell me how well I am doing and how many good things he has heard about the way I am running my practices, etc. And according to him, he is hearing these things from the players themselves who “are so excited about what [I] am doing with the team.”
Later that afternoon, a told me that several of the basketball girls were talking in her class and she wanted to tell me how much they respect me and that they were talking about how much I know about basketball and what I was teaching them. She told me how excited they were for the season.
Those two words of encouragement were enough to make me realize that we are getting somewhere and the season might just be as exciting as I am hoping it will be. I guess we will see where we stand tomorrow at our scrimmage.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The Birth of a Season
Today a new basketball season is born. Up until now, the new life we are calling a season has been in gestation, slowly forming and developing into what is birthed today when we officially begin a new season. As with every new birth, this one is greeted with much excitement and anticipation. What will she be like as she grows up? How will her life be lived? What great things are in store for her? These are all questions we ask as we gaze into the eyes and right through to the heart of this new season. For right now, this new life, this season, is full of all kinds of potential.
As this life is born today, it is not only exciting to dream about the possibilities that are out there for her future, it is equally inspiring to bask in the presence of today. For today is when it all begins. Today is when we welcome the new life and are excited just to see her on the court.
But she will grow quickly. And before we know it, she will be forming into the shape and personality of the team we will see throughout her life. Those early days of practice will determine much of what she will become. What will her personality be like? What will she be naturally good at? What are areas she will struggle with all her life? Those early times of practice will largely shape those things.
And before long, she will be taking her first steps as the November games begin. Her childhood will go by quickly in those first few weeks of games. So much will be learned and shaped and developed. Habits will be formed and the ability to think on her own will become a part of her life. Hopefully, she will know how to make the right decisions.
Before we know it, she will enter those tough and sometimes heart-breaking adolescent years known as the tournament season when she plays a multitude of games in tense situations. This time allows her to experience success and failure and to hopefully learn some life lessons along the way that will benefit her later in life. We want very much to see her succeed during those adolescent years, but we also know that what she goes through then will help her succeed later in life.
Finally, she is ready to grow up and spread her wings and live her life. All the hard work in her adolescent years are about to pay off. District time will be here. What she did in her early life to prepare her for her adult years of district will either reward her or disappoint her. But this is the important time of her life. This is when she earns the right to later retire in comfort.
Finally, at the end of the regular season, she will face the time to retire. If she does what she needs to do during district time, she will retire into the playoffs and hopefully live a long successful life in retirement. Some seasons die before their time. Others live to be a ripe old age playing into Regionals or even State. How long will she live?
Then one day, as sad as this thought might be, the season will die. Even if the end result is playing for the State Championship, the lifetime we call a season will come to an end and this basketball team’s life will be over. How will she be remembered? Will she be remembered with joy as a team who met and exceeded all expectations and lived a full and wonderful life or will she be remembered as a team who died before her time with unfilled potential? That largely depends on how she lives, from the moment of birth until the end.
But today, we celebrate her birth. We do so knowing that the season is both long and the season is short. In the next five months, this season will live its life and will never come again. So as we celebrate this new life today, let’s not just be excited about this new life, let’s remember that it will go by so fast and we cannot waste a day of this short life. May each day of this life be all about getting better and getting closer to our potential.
Enjoy the birth today. It is exciting. But in the midst of the excitement, don’t forget that there is a life ahead to plan for and to live. The season is long and the season is short. Live each day of it to its fullest.
As this life is born today, it is not only exciting to dream about the possibilities that are out there for her future, it is equally inspiring to bask in the presence of today. For today is when it all begins. Today is when we welcome the new life and are excited just to see her on the court.
But she will grow quickly. And before we know it, she will be forming into the shape and personality of the team we will see throughout her life. Those early days of practice will determine much of what she will become. What will her personality be like? What will she be naturally good at? What are areas she will struggle with all her life? Those early times of practice will largely shape those things.
And before long, she will be taking her first steps as the November games begin. Her childhood will go by quickly in those first few weeks of games. So much will be learned and shaped and developed. Habits will be formed and the ability to think on her own will become a part of her life. Hopefully, she will know how to make the right decisions.
Before we know it, she will enter those tough and sometimes heart-breaking adolescent years known as the tournament season when she plays a multitude of games in tense situations. This time allows her to experience success and failure and to hopefully learn some life lessons along the way that will benefit her later in life. We want very much to see her succeed during those adolescent years, but we also know that what she goes through then will help her succeed later in life.
Finally, she is ready to grow up and spread her wings and live her life. All the hard work in her adolescent years are about to pay off. District time will be here. What she did in her early life to prepare her for her adult years of district will either reward her or disappoint her. But this is the important time of her life. This is when she earns the right to later retire in comfort.
Finally, at the end of the regular season, she will face the time to retire. If she does what she needs to do during district time, she will retire into the playoffs and hopefully live a long successful life in retirement. Some seasons die before their time. Others live to be a ripe old age playing into Regionals or even State. How long will she live?
Then one day, as sad as this thought might be, the season will die. Even if the end result is playing for the State Championship, the lifetime we call a season will come to an end and this basketball team’s life will be over. How will she be remembered? Will she be remembered with joy as a team who met and exceeded all expectations and lived a full and wonderful life or will she be remembered as a team who died before her time with unfilled potential? That largely depends on how she lives, from the moment of birth until the end.
But today, we celebrate her birth. We do so knowing that the season is both long and the season is short. In the next five months, this season will live its life and will never come again. So as we celebrate this new life today, let’s not just be excited about this new life, let’s remember that it will go by so fast and we cannot waste a day of this short life. May each day of this life be all about getting better and getting closer to our potential.
Enjoy the birth today. It is exciting. But in the midst of the excitement, don’t forget that there is a life ahead to plan for and to live. The season is long and the season is short. Live each day of it to its fullest.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Real Competitors Do Not Accept Losing
I will admit right now that when it comes to basketball games, I am a competitor. I hate to lose. I honestly don't understand how some athletes can be a part of a team and just accept losing like it is as natural as eating or breathing. But the high school athletic world is full of people just like that. Yes, I understand that a team cannot win all the time and losing is a part of life and we have to learn to deal with it. But do we have to accept it?
But when a coach and a group of athletes decide together that they are not going to accept losing and will do everything they can to change losing ways and turn them into winning ways, then the victories begin to follow. But if there are no competitors and losing is an acceptable end to any game, then victories will never follow.
As I approach this new basketball season, I am hoping and praying that I find a team who will not accept losing. Three times before I have taken over programs that had become accustomed to losing, but found some true competitors who just needed their competitive spirit channeled in the right direction to turn things around. They hated to lose and would not accept losing. Once they were shown how to win, the sky became the limit. I hope I find the same thing this year with my new team. Do they really want to win or do they view losing as an acceptable end. I will be finding out in the next few months.
But when a coach and a group of athletes decide together that they are not going to accept losing and will do everything they can to change losing ways and turn them into winning ways, then the victories begin to follow. But if there are no competitors and losing is an acceptable end to any game, then victories will never follow.
As I approach this new basketball season, I am hoping and praying that I find a team who will not accept losing. Three times before I have taken over programs that had become accustomed to losing, but found some true competitors who just needed their competitive spirit channeled in the right direction to turn things around. They hated to lose and would not accept losing. Once they were shown how to win, the sky became the limit. I hope I find the same thing this year with my new team. Do they really want to win or do they view losing as an acceptable end. I will be finding out in the next few months.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
The Longest Two Weeks of the Year
There are 13 days left before basketball season begins. Just less than two weeks before I get to spend several hours a day teaching, instructing, and coaching the game I love. But I just know this is going to be the longest two weeks of the year. I still have four volleyball games and five volleyball practices left before I can put on my basketball shoes, grab my whistle, and walk on to the gym floor with my practice plan in hand.
For a second sport, volleyball has not been too bad. The hours are nothing compared to those that football players put in. It is in the air-conditioned gym. And being the freshmen coach, it is not high stress. However, it is not basketball. It doesn't even pretend to be basketball. About the only similarities between volleyball and basketball is they are played in the same gym and they both have a round ball. In volleyball there seems to be an emphasis on smiling on the court and then having many premeditated dances, chants, sayings, and celebrations every time you make a point. In basketball, when we score, we simply get back on defense and focus on stopping our opponent. There is no dance or celebration or chant.
But very soon for me (but not soon enough), the sounds of basketball practice will begin echoing through the gym and the rituals of volleyball will soon fade into the distance. It is that time of year. It is my time to step up and step out and lead a basketball program. It is time to get a season underway. It is time to begin the march towards a championship.
No, it is not time yet. I still have two weeks. The longest two weeks of the year.
For a second sport, volleyball has not been too bad. The hours are nothing compared to those that football players put in. It is in the air-conditioned gym. And being the freshmen coach, it is not high stress. However, it is not basketball. It doesn't even pretend to be basketball. About the only similarities between volleyball and basketball is they are played in the same gym and they both have a round ball. In volleyball there seems to be an emphasis on smiling on the court and then having many premeditated dances, chants, sayings, and celebrations every time you make a point. In basketball, when we score, we simply get back on defense and focus on stopping our opponent. There is no dance or celebration or chant.
But very soon for me (but not soon enough), the sounds of basketball practice will begin echoing through the gym and the rituals of volleyball will soon fade into the distance. It is that time of year. It is my time to step up and step out and lead a basketball program. It is time to get a season underway. It is time to begin the march towards a championship.
No, it is not time yet. I still have two weeks. The longest two weeks of the year.
Monday, October 5, 2009
October
As October emerges from out of the shadow of the hot summer months, there is a different feeling in the air. The weather begins to have cooler days (if being in the 80s and 90s is considered cooler), the frantic panic of the hot summer drought is replaced by rainy days after rainy days. Some years the rains even bring damaging floods to the area. October means that high school football is in district play and the NFL season is in full swing. For me personally, October is a pleasant reminder of the day I married my wife nine years ago.
October also marks the official start of basketball. It begins the four and half month long journey that we know as a basketball season. It is the time that I am in my element. The long hours of practices, followed by the late nights of games and marathons of weekend basketball tournaments are all part of what I love about the journey of the season.
October is the time where I begin teaching the girls on my team what it means to not only play basketball, but how to become winners both on and off the court. It is the time that a new life is born (the season) and a family (the team) is formed. It is the beginning of an up and down journey that promises to have its share of both thrills and heartaches. It will be a journey that will either bring a team together or split it apart. October marks the start of something new, where old successes and old failures are put in the past and new goals are sought. In October, we start the dream of a championship season. In October, we hope and pray that the dream does not die before its time.
October is many things to many people. But for me, October is the beginning.
October also marks the official start of basketball. It begins the four and half month long journey that we know as a basketball season. It is the time that I am in my element. The long hours of practices, followed by the late nights of games and marathons of weekend basketball tournaments are all part of what I love about the journey of the season.
October is the time where I begin teaching the girls on my team what it means to not only play basketball, but how to become winners both on and off the court. It is the time that a new life is born (the season) and a family (the team) is formed. It is the beginning of an up and down journey that promises to have its share of both thrills and heartaches. It will be a journey that will either bring a team together or split it apart. October marks the start of something new, where old successes and old failures are put in the past and new goals are sought. In October, we start the dream of a championship season. In October, we hope and pray that the dream does not die before its time.
October is many things to many people. But for me, October is the beginning.
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