Misc. Ramblings about coaching....

Once again, here I sit exhausted and drained. I love coaching, and I love the exciting moments it brings when a team comes together, fights hard and perseveres through adversity. As many of you know, I have been coaching my daughter's 7th grade basketball team this spring in the SoCo (Southern Colorado) basketball league. Our record now is 4 wins, 2 losses - and that's 4 more wins than the girls had this past season as 7th graders. It is very exciting to watch as they grow and believe in themselves, and quite frankly, I am fearful of what might be in store for them as 8th graders this coming fall. The coach they had did not fill them with confidence and I watched my daughtter's love for basketball slowly but surely declining over the course of the season - now, she has that fire back and is having fun. In fact, they all are. I hope and pray that their 8th grade season goes well and they continue having fun.

I guess what really bums me out is that for 3 seasons I coached at a charter school here in town and at the end of the 3rd season as I was preparing for the 4th, I was told by the athletic director that my services would no longer be needed. When I asked why, a few unsubstantiated excuses ("not enough man-to-man defense" - all I really ran was that...) were given but in truth, I still don't really know *why* this happened. During my tenure under two AD's, I never received any sort of written or verbal evaluation and when I asked for feedback, it was always done in a very general way. His friend was brought in to coach the 7th graders for my last season and after I was released, his friend received a promotion to the 8th grade team. Now I don't begrudge anyone their individual successes - he does have more experience than me for sure, but the one thing that he doesn't have is the fire. And there are times as I am coaching now that makes me wonder if it was the "fire" that got me booted? I am a loud coach - cheering for my girls and working the referees. Perhaps this didn't fit in with the overall scheme the AD had for his programs? But if this was the case why was I permitted the honor of coaching the girls' softball team where I was just as fired up and driven like I was as a basketball coach?

The whole situation made me question who I was as a coach, and quite frankly, I took the SoCo team on with a great deal of trepidation - would the girls respond to me? Would we be successful? So far, so good! I haven't really changed my approach and definitely continue to be loud and supportive....have had many opposing parents compliment me on "having fun" and "always being positive."

As a coach I never believe that I know everything and am always watching video, reading newsletters, talking with other coaches - all in an effort to increase my "basketball IQ" so I can be a better coach. Was it my lack of knowledge that did me in? And if so, why didn't the AD address that with me?

When we started the SoCo team, I told the girls that they needed to just forget the past season and focus on what were doing. I wanted them to heal. I wanted them to have fun. I wanted them to learn the game. And that is exactly what they have done.

And in some ways, so have I.  

Ugh...finally back to it...

Last post was in February...it has been a crazy month & half....

My wife's grandmother finally started to give in to bone cancer and so it was off to California for her. She was out there for 3 weeks before Rene'e finally passed on. So while she was out there I played the "single dad" role - taking kids to and from activities, feeding them, cleaning house, all that fun stuff! We made it through.....she came back home Sunday.
Not much basketball going on except for my Springs Fox 7th grade girl's team...first game was a win! They were down by 15 at one point and manged to come back and win by 3! What a way to start! Game 2 didn't go as well. The girls were never really in it and lost by 16 - but they played hard and I noticed that they never gave up. Something we can work with.....games 3 and 4 were two of the roughest games I have ever coached. Our girls were being constantly thrown or pushed to the floor, but I'll say this - they were as tough a team as I have seen at this level and we won both games by ONE point each! That runs the record to 3 wins, 1 loss up until this day....2 games coming up this weekend.
Softball umpiring has started but since there are so few teams in the Park & Rec, I got very few assignments. It's cool because I know I will be taken care of this summer.

I want to write, but have had such a block here recently. Life has interfered with my pursuit of fun....so I shall endeavor to "fix" that soon.....