The Real Coach K

My love for the game of basketball (copyright: Marc Jackson) is no secret to those who know me, for those of you who don't, let me just tell you I love basketball. With that said, a couple months ago when I was given the opportunity to coach my own 3-4th grade basketball team while getting paid for it, I quickly accepted the "job" offer. I felt that coaching would allow me to become a better basketball player because it would force me to view the game from a different perspective. No longer was I forced to remind myself of the two rules of dealing with a demanding basketball coach, "rule #1) the coach is always right, rule #2) when the coach is wrong refer to rule number one" because I was the coach and during coaching hours, I would always be right. Every idea I came up with during late night conversations I had with my dad on what one of my coaches was doing wrong, would be put to the test. My self proclaimed immense "basketball IQ" would also be put to the test. Lastly, those who claim such a smart-alecly (keeping it PG) person would never be able to succeed with little kids, would be able to have their hypothesis tested.

When it was time for the first game, I was extremely anxious, I had limited knowledge on the kids ability (there are no practices and I had only seen them do drills for about a month) and had spent the previous 5 minutes attempting to devise a playing strategy. I settled on an offense that would push the ball hoping to get as many fast breaks as possible and a defense that would force turnovers thanks to good ball pressure and the natural complications of a 3rd and 4th grade offense. Of course I didn't share that idea with the kids, but I knew what I wanted them to do and if I could properly convey the message, they would do it.

After winning our first two games, we hit a rough spell, losing two in a row to 2 of the better teams in the league. However, despite the losses, I noticed something about my team. We were beginning to form an identity, we passed the ball extremely well, played great defense, and would get 7-8 fast breaks a game (capitalizing on about 2-3 of them). For the first two games Noah (my co-coach) and I would encourage the kids to get into a defensive stance, to bend their knees, to be aggressive, and by the fourth game they did it on their own. After our back-to-back losses, we got hot again winning our last three games before the playoffs started.

After cruising through our 1st playoff game, we faced the Kobe Bryant of our league in Eli Roth (The Great One). In the 1st game we faced him, he torched us for about 15 points (that's about 40 in a high school game) and basically beat my entire team on his own. I was put in a position where I felt I would need to game plan to stop The Great One. The Great One was limited in the 1st quarter, but his buddies decided to show up, putting us in an 8-1 hole at the end of the 1st quarter. Nevertheless, my guys fought back and going into halftime, The Great One was down 11-10 and the defensive game plan that was put together was looking pretty good. My guys held it together in the 2nd half too, eking out a 3 point win after it looked like The Great One had tied the game on a 3 pointer that rimmed out after hitting the backboard.

That win put us in the championship.The championship gave us a rematch to avenge our 2nd loss of the season. Only this time, we weren't facing a very effective one man show. The Georgetown Hoyas (name of the team we were playing, not the real Hoyas featuring Chris Wright--the most underrated guard in the Big East) had a squad! Thanks to some anxious nerves, questionable calls (I hope the Big East doesn't fine me), and good Hoya defense, we were down four going into halftime. Sensing the game was slipping away from us, I made a change at point guard. I put our tallest player and best passer at the point in hopes of getting some better looks against this aggressive and overzealous Hoya defense. At first the move looked like to would pay off, we made a run to get within one point, but couldn't get over the hump. The Hoyas protected their lead and beat my UConn Huskies for the 'ship.

Afterwards, I reflected on the season and my three things I learned: 1) I now know why a good deal of coaches don't sleep, they care just as much as the players, sometimes more, 2) I took this more seriously than I anticipated (at times I had to laugh at myself) 3) the refs always suck. Sadly, losing in the championship now has me on the hot seat for next season and if we don't win it next year, the AD said I probably shouldn't have quit my day job, which explains the birth of this blog.