Two weeks ago, we were gearing up for our trip to Boston, and struggled through that gauntlet of games and events to come back home to games in Clark, Wayne, and Lincoln Park, New Jersey. For a travel team, six games in three days is unheard of, as the leagues generally make sure that you don't play more than three a week. After the struggles we had enduring in Boston, you'd think we'd be wary of such a tough schedule of travel and new competition. I spent the week thinking about how I'd handle the rotation to keep guys somewhat fresh and put up a competitive showing. Then, came game #1 of the weekend.
We had a late game Friday night in Clark, which is about 45 minutes away with traffic. The boys showed up energized and excited. I had a good day at work, so we had the energy level high, had a few laughs, stretched, got loose and took to the court with fire and purpose. The Readington team we played had a taller kid who could do just about everything, and he definitely caused some problems for us early - guys were afraid to attack the rim, had a lot of fade aways, but we were able to get him away from the ball long enough for us to get some good looks and played great defense to get some quick transition buckets and force them to burn a time out first. Message of the time out: Keep playing great defense, and don't be afraid of his height - dare him to block you without fouling. I don't know if it was the energy, or if the elevators are making it to the top floor, but we just played a great game all around. In keeping with trying to keep fatigue at bay for the weekend, bench guys got more time and made the most of it and gave some quality minutes. We won by 8 and everyone was all smiles. Somehow though, the facility reported us with an 11-point margin of victory (key detail, keep it in the back of your mind).
Saturday was a full day for everyone. Three games in one day - whew!! Our first game was in Clark against Cranford. Good, tough, battle the whole way, but we just fell into a hole early with some bad box outs and a surprisingly good shooting percentage by the other team. We fought to the end and fell short by 5. The boys got a few hours to relax and then we had a playoff game in Wayne. I knew I really had to play it safe with the minutes so we could play our last 3 games of the weekend. We had another good game of quality minutes from the bench, and while the margin of victory was just 2 points, what impressed me most is that there was no panic. I spent seasons telling my team that until you see me panic, there's no need for you to panic, only to see them reaching for the red button and just falling apart. Not a sign of panic, just trust in each other and their coach to get this victory. The last game of the day was around the corner in Lincoln Park. Again, got quality minutes from our bench but you could tell that the boys were getting tired - more so mentally than physically. We were moving, but the mistakes were just those that said their brains were fried. Again, the boys impressed me with how much they fought and willed their way into a competitive battle to a 7-point loss, even though everyone in the building could tell they were playing on fumes.
Sunday - the last regular season game of our league and of all the games it was our cross-town rival. If you looked at the match up on paper, and our records, the margins of victory, and things like that, you would have been floored by the game that took place that morning. It was a battle, and we were right there the entire game, staying within 5 points for most of the game. Ultimately, if we could have gotten more shots to go in, we may have pulled the upset, but again - just about everyone in the gym expected us to get destroyed and we held our own. We all left feeling good about what took place - we played with pride, intensity, and energy. All the things I've asked for all season long finally coming through and giving us something to be happy about. The momentum from the effort in the morning carried us down to Clark in the afternoon to secure a 7-point victory over Roseland with yet another solid team effort.
We then take a few moments to see how we stack up against our pool in the Clark tournament, and when we walk over to the board and see a +11, -5 and +7, which adds up to +13. Cool, there's on game left to be played and if Cranford loses to Readington, we'll get a 3 way tie and it will come down to points. Well, Cranford was sitting at +13, Readington was sitting at 0, so all we needed was for Cranford to lose and we'd take the 1 seed, if Readington lost, we'd lock up a 2-seed. We were so excited to finally earn another trip to a tournament playoff bracket. Cranford ended up losing by 10. 3-way tie! And we won the points race! Oh wait - they reported our first game score wrong. We are only at +10 (+8, -5, +7) and Readington is +13 (+10, -8, +11). And then to break the rest of the tie, it goes based on the head to head record, which gave the 2-seed to...Cranford. So we DON'T get to play in the playoffs?!? So close, and after a great weekend filled with the spirit of basketball, you don't get to advance. This is arguably one of the most heartbreaking endings I've experienced, because the kids were so excited and had me so excited for them, only to have to go back and say that we didn't even get in. I just hope that they remember how it felt to play this weekend, and carry it forward. Like I said, maybe the lights are starting to come on, or maybe just having experienced a tough weekend in Boston, or a combination of both made this weekend one of the most exciting weekends I've experienced.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Monday, February 18, 2013
Don't Have a Title For This One...
Over the weekend, we took the boys up to North Andover to compete in the 5th Annual Ryan Bourque Invitational Tournament. It was a good weekend for the boys off the court, with trips to the Nashoba Valley Snow Tubing Park and Dave & Busters. but we did get bit by the inconsistency bug on the court.
I will admit that some of the problems we encountered were that there were rules in place that we weren't used to. If that were the only problem, I'd have a much sweeter taste than the foul, bitter taste that the trip left me with. I can't really argue on the side of poor officiating, because one thing last Spring taught me is that if you aren't going to stand your ground against an aggressive, physical team, then the refs may not feel compelled to call the foul. I know some people will say that the boys were tired - 4 games in three days, complete with swimming, snow tubing, arcade games, and the NBA All-Star event mixed in could be a bit much for a 10-year old. I completely understand this, it makes sense.
What has me at a loss for words is how we seem to always fall the same way. We play a couple of really good games, and then play a few terrible ones. We play hard, we play smart, we play basketball. Then in the blink of an eye, we go back to playing like it's November 15th and we are just getting together as a group; we can't use both sides of the court, we can't pass the ball, we just look like we haven't spent hours upon hours practicing, growing, learning. No one gets upset enough to dig deep and find a way to beat back fatigue long enough to earn the respect of the fans and opposition. That I think is the most difficult part. There's no anger in most of the guys, no getting upset enough to help me try to rally the team.
It's frustrating, it's borderline infuriating. It's hard to stay upbeat and positive when we play this way. I know I want to improve in that area, but it's so tough when you have so many swings like this. It'd be hypocritical of me to give up, so I'm not. I'm mad enough to keep looking and finding a way to keep working, keep my energy up and be more positive when it gets dark. I'm not a quitter, and I still believe in my team - through all the ups and downs, the hours of work, the sacrifices we've all made, how could I stop? We've got a few more weeks, and although we'll end the season with a losing record, I'm going to find a way to secure a victory for these guys in some form - even if it is just a moral one.
I will admit that some of the problems we encountered were that there were rules in place that we weren't used to. If that were the only problem, I'd have a much sweeter taste than the foul, bitter taste that the trip left me with. I can't really argue on the side of poor officiating, because one thing last Spring taught me is that if you aren't going to stand your ground against an aggressive, physical team, then the refs may not feel compelled to call the foul. I know some people will say that the boys were tired - 4 games in three days, complete with swimming, snow tubing, arcade games, and the NBA All-Star event mixed in could be a bit much for a 10-year old. I completely understand this, it makes sense.
What has me at a loss for words is how we seem to always fall the same way. We play a couple of really good games, and then play a few terrible ones. We play hard, we play smart, we play basketball. Then in the blink of an eye, we go back to playing like it's November 15th and we are just getting together as a group; we can't use both sides of the court, we can't pass the ball, we just look like we haven't spent hours upon hours practicing, growing, learning. No one gets upset enough to dig deep and find a way to beat back fatigue long enough to earn the respect of the fans and opposition. That I think is the most difficult part. There's no anger in most of the guys, no getting upset enough to help me try to rally the team.
It's frustrating, it's borderline infuriating. It's hard to stay upbeat and positive when we play this way. I know I want to improve in that area, but it's so tough when you have so many swings like this. It'd be hypocritical of me to give up, so I'm not. I'm mad enough to keep looking and finding a way to keep working, keep my energy up and be more positive when it gets dark. I'm not a quitter, and I still believe in my team - through all the ups and downs, the hours of work, the sacrifices we've all made, how could I stop? We've got a few more weeks, and although we'll end the season with a losing record, I'm going to find a way to secure a victory for these guys in some form - even if it is just a moral one.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Happiness Does Come in a Box
The last few weeks at work have been tough. I'm not going to sit here and deny that it doesn't affect my mood outside the office and my effectiveness as a coach. Shoot me, I'm human. There were many a practice I walked into worn down, beat up, and exhausted. You do what you can to keep the two worlds separate but sometimes that just doesn't happen - Mr. Hyde overstays his welcome.
But then, you take a couple steps into that 84-foot by 50-foot hardwood box and all the pain, misery, anger, frustration disappears. The world seems to stop. The problems of the day - the angry calls, the nasty emails - all fade to nothing. All that matters is my little space of happiness, my 84' x 50' box of joy. Losing, winning, playing well, whatever, it doesn't matter. All that matters is I'm free. I'm happy. It's a remedy. Back in the day, we'd call it my "anti-drug" (raise your hand if you even remember those commercials), and it is one thing that keeps me from going over the edge and getting consumed by all the "bad" of the workweek.
That's the feeling I am hoping that my boys get one day. For some it may be tomorrow, for others it will be next year, two, three, six years later. But I hope that one day, they too realize that happiness could be found in a simple little box with a tiny ball. They too will find that place that they can go to when the entire world decides to just beat them down and feel invincible. And I hope that when they sit down, maybe not to blog as I have, but to just recall the simple things that make us happy, that I'll be among the list of people they attribute that feeling to. This season I'm working with a local high school student who used to play in the program and he recalls his 5th grade basketball season like it was yesterday. He always tells the team how those moments that made him so happy and ultimately brought him back to help now. His coach that trusted in him, helped him grow and inspired him. One day, I hope I'll be included in that list for a child, and that will inspire him to do the same.
Okay, so this post was a little on the sappy side. I just needed to put it out there. I think a lot of times that people see me on the sidelines demanding more every play, every minute and maybe feel like I'm some madman - always angry. But I'm not. I'm quite the opposite. And one thing I can tell you from my experiences, the people I've been around - the best coaches are the ones who find that little piece of happiness on the court too.
But then, you take a couple steps into that 84-foot by 50-foot hardwood box and all the pain, misery, anger, frustration disappears. The world seems to stop. The problems of the day - the angry calls, the nasty emails - all fade to nothing. All that matters is my little space of happiness, my 84' x 50' box of joy. Losing, winning, playing well, whatever, it doesn't matter. All that matters is I'm free. I'm happy. It's a remedy. Back in the day, we'd call it my "anti-drug" (raise your hand if you even remember those commercials), and it is one thing that keeps me from going over the edge and getting consumed by all the "bad" of the workweek.
That's the feeling I am hoping that my boys get one day. For some it may be tomorrow, for others it will be next year, two, three, six years later. But I hope that one day, they too realize that happiness could be found in a simple little box with a tiny ball. They too will find that place that they can go to when the entire world decides to just beat them down and feel invincible. And I hope that when they sit down, maybe not to blog as I have, but to just recall the simple things that make us happy, that I'll be among the list of people they attribute that feeling to. This season I'm working with a local high school student who used to play in the program and he recalls his 5th grade basketball season like it was yesterday. He always tells the team how those moments that made him so happy and ultimately brought him back to help now. His coach that trusted in him, helped him grow and inspired him. One day, I hope I'll be included in that list for a child, and that will inspire him to do the same.
Okay, so this post was a little on the sappy side. I just needed to put it out there. I think a lot of times that people see me on the sidelines demanding more every play, every minute and maybe feel like I'm some madman - always angry. But I'm not. I'm quite the opposite. And one thing I can tell you from my experiences, the people I've been around - the best coaches are the ones who find that little piece of happiness on the court too.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Growth Experiment: Energy
This post is definitely one that I'm writing to remind myself to continue to improve on. So, before we get all crazy and talk about being hypocritical - I am putting it out there that I definitely need to improve this area of my coaching.
A while back I wrote about how important communication is between parents, coaches, and players. There's the obvious method of communication - verbal - which is always what people always focus on when the word communicate is mentioned. That is not where this post is going. Instead, we are going to focus on the less obvious, and more often forgotten, method. The words you never actually say, but vocalize with your eyes, arms, posture, and gestures.
This season especially, has made me take a step back and really look at my approach to preparation and games. With all the progress that we've made, albeit inconsistent, one thing I've noticed that really made a difference is the energy of the team. I've spent more time in practices and pregame meetings discussing what the team has done well, how much they have improved over the season, and emphasizing my belief in them while encouraging them to continue working hard. It has definitely made a difference as the first quarters of games have been engaging and entertaining. For many coaches, myself included, this is easy. You believe in the guys you've chosen to go into battle with, so it's easy to see the glass as half full at this point.
Then comes the part that I am going to strive to improve. As coaches we all look to keep our teams playing at a high level through the game. I'm sure I'm not the only one who sees a significant drop off in some games as the game progresses. One of the things I noticed while watching some of the less entertaining games (you know the ones where we lost by 20+) is that generally the drop off started when my energy dropped. I noticed that it was happening before recently, but thought it was my energy that followed the level of play, not the other way around. It's tough to watch your team make silly mistakes - the same mistakes you just spent a week drilling - and keep the energy and hope. I think that maybe, just maybe, if I find a way to keep my energy up, the team will find a way to right the ship and recover a lot faster. If I can keep the energy up, then maybe the boys will feed off of that, realize that I do really understand that they are going to make mistakes from time to time, and won't beat themselves or their teammates down when they fail to execute successfully.
Like I said, it's something I am going to work on. I don't like losing but, based on the game a few hours ago (where I really forced myself to stay positive and energized as much as possible), I may be able to do this and get the results I'm looking for. Even though we lost, the team and I made an effort to stand together, supporting and cheering from start to finish, and it felt pretty good. I've got a couple of games left in the season and am really going to remind myself to put this theory to work.
After all, this blog is about me learning and growing and I have to be able to admit my mistakes. There will be an update in a few weeks on how I think this little experiment is going.
A while back I wrote about how important communication is between parents, coaches, and players. There's the obvious method of communication - verbal - which is always what people always focus on when the word communicate is mentioned. That is not where this post is going. Instead, we are going to focus on the less obvious, and more often forgotten, method. The words you never actually say, but vocalize with your eyes, arms, posture, and gestures.
This season especially, has made me take a step back and really look at my approach to preparation and games. With all the progress that we've made, albeit inconsistent, one thing I've noticed that really made a difference is the energy of the team. I've spent more time in practices and pregame meetings discussing what the team has done well, how much they have improved over the season, and emphasizing my belief in them while encouraging them to continue working hard. It has definitely made a difference as the first quarters of games have been engaging and entertaining. For many coaches, myself included, this is easy. You believe in the guys you've chosen to go into battle with, so it's easy to see the glass as half full at this point.
Then comes the part that I am going to strive to improve. As coaches we all look to keep our teams playing at a high level through the game. I'm sure I'm not the only one who sees a significant drop off in some games as the game progresses. One of the things I noticed while watching some of the less entertaining games (you know the ones where we lost by 20+) is that generally the drop off started when my energy dropped. I noticed that it was happening before recently, but thought it was my energy that followed the level of play, not the other way around. It's tough to watch your team make silly mistakes - the same mistakes you just spent a week drilling - and keep the energy and hope. I think that maybe, just maybe, if I find a way to keep my energy up, the team will find a way to right the ship and recover a lot faster. If I can keep the energy up, then maybe the boys will feed off of that, realize that I do really understand that they are going to make mistakes from time to time, and won't beat themselves or their teammates down when they fail to execute successfully.
Like I said, it's something I am going to work on. I don't like losing but, based on the game a few hours ago (where I really forced myself to stay positive and energized as much as possible), I may be able to do this and get the results I'm looking for. Even though we lost, the team and I made an effort to stand together, supporting and cheering from start to finish, and it felt pretty good. I've got a couple of games left in the season and am really going to remind myself to put this theory to work.
After all, this blog is about me learning and growing and I have to be able to admit my mistakes. There will be an update in a few weeks on how I think this little experiment is going.
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