New Focus

So there is a post sitting in my drafts list about my Spring season to end my year long hiatus but it still brings up a lot of thoughts and feelings I'm not sure how I want to convey. So we'll table that post and move on...for now.

This season I have 8th graders and along with a new group of kids confess new expectations, new challenges, and, most importantly for me, new opportunities to react to situations. That in itself, I can honestly admit, is a major flaw of mine.

I was brought up in a household where anything less than 100% effort was a failure and failure was not tolerated. Did you occasionally fall short? Sure but it wasn't failure because you tried hard. Unfortunately, until this last year I never really had to understand that as more than words. I tried hard as a kid and always managed find myself where I wanted to be and accepted that those times I fell short were the result of me not giving my all. There was, and in many cases still is, no middle ground. I struggle with accepting short falls for just that and in my head chalk up failure to a lack of effort and tend to be up front with my disappointment.

This season I'm making more of an effort to understand that for some people and teams 100% effort may not cut it. At least not right now. There have been many stories where guys just kept going all out and were rewarded, ironically one close to home for me is the Baylor Athletic program. Using their success as a pseudo-guide (I'm definitely no Art Briles or Scott Drew by any stretch) I hope to make that change in my perspective and do what I started coaching to do: help kids get to their potential and enjoy the game.

We have our first tournament this weekend and our goals are simple:
Have fun, play five as one on the court, and walk away feeling like you've given your all. Win or lose, if we do those things we can go home and sleep day knowing we didn't fail. Myself included.