Hoop Daddy

So I've decided to step up to the plate and coach Karsyn’s youth basketball team. Her first game is this Saturday. We’ve had one practice, which went fairly well, but I have no idea how well they’ll do when faced with real competition.

I’m actually quite surprised that Sonya let me coach. Back in the 90’s I coached water polo at Fremont High School for three years. Two years as JV coach and one as the varsity coach. My last year there was a trying one, because I had a team full of players who couldn’t swim.

Oh, and I swore like a drunken sailor at games. Apparently this is not a good thing to do when trying to mold young athletes. The thing is, that’s all I was ever exposed to when I played in high school and college. Coaches were made of piss & vinegar, so I tried the same approach.

Actually, I also had a team of kids that were resigned to the fact that they were going to get their asse…oop…butts handed to them during every game. They did, but I couldn’t accept the attitude that losing was acceptable. I came from programs where athleticism was typically even, and it came down to who wanted to win more. Who would make that extra effort to win.

Using a touchy, feely, psycho-babble approach to coaching high school kids that were defeatists just wouldn’t work. So during my JV stint, I actually turned out a couple of decent teams. But by the time those kids graduated up to varsity, they were so overmatched by kids that could swim circles around them, that they didn’t have a chance.

It’s funny that all these years later, one of the kids I coached is now running that program. He says I was the best coach he ever had. At least that’s what he says to my face!

So here I am, ten years removed from my high school coaching days, about to lead a group of 1st & 2nd grade girls in basketball. I’ve vowed to keep the swearing limited to the “F-word” and a couple of “god damn its” (ha, just kidding Sonya!). I’ve already been warned with great bodily harm to watch the language.

What do I know about basketball you ask? Aside from hours of pick up in college, absolutely nothing. Will these kids learn anything? I hope so. I found some cool coaching plans that the NBA provides for youth development. Some great training concepts in there. Who would have thought to go over the basics…like dribbling.

Besides, you should have seen the look on these kids faces when I tried to explain what rebounding was. It was priceless. Shear terror in their eyes, but priceless.