Basketball is Life ?

Well, its been a long week.  Things outside of basketball seemed to creep up but thankfully, God is in control and all is working its way out.  The stress was tough but God is TOUGHER.

  As for basketball, well that's been tough as well.  Last weekend we played the top two teams in the conference.  We played decent on Saturday and stayed with them for awhile but wasn't able to finish, which seems to be our problem quite often.  Sunday we played... well we won't talk about that one.    We also had a rare mid-week game on Tuesday evening.  It was against a lesser opponent and one that we needed to gain so momentum.  We were able to win fairly easily but did not play all that well.  However, we were able to get some really good game minutes in for our bench and hopefully that will help us in the long run.  They played really well considering some don't play that much.  Now its off the Colorado this weekend and hope to pick up a very important win.  We have split so far with them and this is our chance to really make a statement.  Playing in the altitude will be tough on our players but I know they can do it.  They just have to play like I know they are capable of and not just like what they think they can.  There is a huge difference there sometimes.  As a coach it is out job to remind them and help them focus and what we know they are capable of and not just what they think they can do. 

With that said, this week reminded me that basketball can skew our thinking sometimes.  Sometimes we get caught up in the "basketball world" and forget about the real world.  As a coach this is very easy to do.  You focus on basketball and your team and its almost like you allow that to take over everything and we forget about life outside of basketball.  This week reminded me that even though I might want to think differently, there is life outside of basketball and it continues on whether I want tit to or not.  Luckily, as I said at the beginning, God is in control and not I.  If I were, from October to March would be strange for everyone else.  I am thankful that God has blessed me with the opportunity to do what I love, coach.  I am most thankful that He continues to keep control over all even when my focus turns elsewhere.  Despite what I may sometimes think, basketball is NOT life! 

DIG DEEP

It really is amazing what a difference 24 hours can make.  After losing that 24 point lead last Friday night, and coming face to face with the issue of complacency, the players had a players only meeting and made a statement the next night.  They beat that same team the next day and seemed to be coming back into their own.  We tried to take that momentum into this past weekend's road trip.  Unfortunately it seemed that Friday they were slipping back into their old ways.

Playing a team that is, to say the least, much less skilled than us and one that we should beat, our girls seemed to again let that complacency monster find its way back into the game.  To put it mildly, we played like CRAP!  Shooting less that 28% for the game and getting out rebounded by 12, is one of the worst performances of the season.  This made for a very long night for a game that again we should have won or at least made a lot closer, that now we were never really in.  I couldn't help but think on the way home after the game: "Where is that team we saw earlier in the season?", "Where is that team who is fired up and has a passion for the game?" " Where is that team that I know they can be?"  As a coach, you learn pretty quickly what your team is capable of, unfortunately they don't seem to learn is as quickly if ever.  I could only hope Friday would be different.

On the long drive to Louisiana on Saturday, the atmosphere on the bus seemed a little different.  I am not sure how or why but it just did.  Maybe the girls were thinking about the last 2 games we played against the team we were traveling to face.  Maybe they were thinking about the loses that should not have been at the hands of this same opponent.  Maybe they were thinking how they could lose a game when up by 2 with less than 10 seconds to go and the ball.  Maybe they were thinking any of those things, but it was different all the same. 

So, tip off time and away we go on Saturday.  Everyone fired up, everything looking good.  Then it all came crashing down and I thought to myself, "here we go again!"  About 4 minutes into the game and it started to get ugly.  With just over 5 minutes to go in the first half the opponent scored their 40th point.  Usually when we give up that many points in the first half, we know its going to be a long night.  We just don't really have the offense to be able to compete with that.    With 2:30 left in the first half, we found ourselves down by 31 points and even though we got it back to just 23 by the time the first half buzzer went off, we knew there wasn't much to do or say.  Its almost like the girls had already checked out.  As the head coach and I stood in the hallway before going into the locker room, we discussed this fact.  They were just counting down the day till season was over.  Its as if they didn't care what happened from here on out they just wanted it to be over.  So, we thought we'd help them out.  We quickly calculated the days left till end of season and walked into a silent locker room.  Coach wrote a big number 35 on the board and asked the girls if they knew what that meant.  No one answered.  She  told them that was the number of days till the end of the season.  Since it seems you guys are already counting them down and just riding this out as if you don't care, we thought we'd help you out.  So if we need to, when we get home, we can just put that up in our locker room and keep the tally gong.  She then proceeded to tell them that she didn't really know what to say anymore because everything she has tried up til this point has not worked to motivate them.  So they just needed to figure it out themselves.  With that we turned and walked out.

I must say I am not sure what went on in the room after that but I don't need to know.  The second half started with us going on a 32-18 run and halfway through only being down by 10.  Then another quick 6-0 run gave us or first lead at the 6:54 mark.  These girls were playing like a team possessed.  This was the team I knew they could be.  This was the team they are deep down inside.  When they dig deep, this was what they were capable of and dig deep they did.  They would NEVER relinquish the lead after that.  Shooting 62% and getting to the free throw line an astounding 26 times in the second half  just goes to show what they can do when they stay calm and truly do DIG DEEP!

Complacency

Complacency will kill a team.  Not the quick get it over with death but the very slow painful agonizing type death that makes you only wish it was quick.  Its painful to watch and painful to live.  For a team I think its harder to watch as a coach and know there is really nothing you can do about it.  You can encourage, you can motivate, you can even yell, but unless they players decide to change none of it will help.

Unfortunately, I believe we are there!  We started the season off well and at one point were 5-2 but now all that has changed after a 7 game losing streak.  We see moments of brilliance.  There are times of perfection.  Even minutes of masterful teamwork.  These seem to be all short lived and the old crummy complacency creeps back in.  Its not that they enjoy losing, no one does!  Its that they almost seem to not want to push themselves, not want to get better, no want to step-up.  Its frustrating and heartbreaking at the same time.  We can only sit and wait and hope they soon snap out of it.

A Chance

I had some time to think on the bus ride last night.  We lost a close, hard fought game that most probably thought we would be blown out.  On the ride my thought weren't on the game or the one we'd play in the next 24 hours.  Instead I was thinking about coaches.  Those i have played for, coached with, coached against and even those I have watched as a spectator.  I thought how it was kinda funny that there are so many different ways of coaching.  Though there are similarities, most are very different.  There seems to be no right our wrong way to coach.  There is no class you can take or book you can read that will teach it to you.  The best coaches adapt their style as needed to fit their team or even a given situation. 

I thought about how coaches develop their styles.  Most coaches glean from their experiences to develop their "style" of coaching.  My first experience with a coach was little league baseball.  When and where I grew up there was no softball so if girls wanted to play they had to play baseball with the boys.  I really didn't have a problem with this since I had a brother 15 months older than me and most of the kids in my church group that i hung out with were boys.  However, most boys or even male coaches didn't want a girl on their team. 

After tryouts, there was no guarantee that i would be chosen for a team mush less actually play.  My parents soon got a call that I was chosen and when and where I would practice.  At the first practice, I walked on the field with my glove and was welcomed with a huge smile from my coach.  He introduced me to the rest of  my teammates, all boys, who of course had mixed emotions.  I was just glad to be there. 

I can't really tell you much about that season.  All I remember was that soon my teammates all accepted my as just another teammate.  I even was starting a few games by the end of it.  My first experience with a coach was a positive one, not because of some great thing he taught me, but for the simple fact that he gave ME a chance.  When most others refused just because i was a girl, he was able to look past that and see me as just another player who wanted to play the game.  That was the greatest thing he ever could have could have done for me, well that and ask me back on hi team the next season which he did without hesitation!  He helped me learn to give players a chance, no matter what they may look like on the surface.  If they are willing, give 'em a chance.  Will is half the battle.

I Coach

The break is over, and time to get back to work.  The last 12 days have been, well I am not really sure there is a word to describe them.  Of course Christmas was in there and time with family and so many good times but so was the 12 days a prayer for my team.  I can't think of a word in my vocabulary to describe it so let me just try and write what it was like. 

I started with my head coach and continued down the roster.  Each day I focused on a different player.  I also prayer form them as a whole.  I prayed for them several times throughout the day.  I focused my prayers in two main areas.  I prayed, as my Pastor often says, that God would meet them at their most personal need.  Although I spend so much time with them, I don't know what their personal needs wants and desires are.  I don't know all the intimate things going on in their life, but HE does.  So I just prayed that whatever it was they needed in their life that HE would meet them there and guide them in the way He felt best.  My second focus was on their relationship with HIM.  Again I don't know their heart and could only pray that if they did not know Him personally that He would draw them to Himself as only He could.  I also prayed that He would reveal Himself to them as only He could in a way that they needed.  I also prayed for their families, their academics, and the safety both traveling and in playing.  Last I prayed that no matter the outcome of the rest of the season that they and I would give Him all the honor and glory.

Now this was the first time I had attempted to pray for my players like this and I realized I should have been doing it all along.  Although I was praying for them, God was teaching me.  He was teaching me that in order to really lead them the way I want to lead them, I must first take them to and leave them at the cross.  As a coach, a person and a leader there is only so much I can do.  He has to be a part of what I do.  One ot the Goals I recently wrote for my coaching was that : I will produce a positive change in my players by supporting them and encouraging them.  These past 12 days I have learned that the best way to support and encourage them is through prayer.  Its funny how in today's would we tell people  "I'll pray for you".  But how often do we really do that.  I have learned this week, don't say unless you intend to do it. 

All of that to say this, I now have a new and very different relationship with my players that even they don't know about.  It's amazing how intentionally praying for someone will do that.  It really changes your perspective of them.  It changes how you see them and even treat them.  It's almost if you begin to see them through HIS eyes.  That's what I want to be able to do as a coach.  I want to see my players, opponents, fellow coaches and everyone involved in and around the game as God see's them.  I want to be able to make a positive impact in their lives, not to say I did but because that's what God has called me to do.  I coach because I want to transform my players' sense of their own worth, talents, and values.  Praying for them is the only way to open that door!

12 Days of Prayer

It has been a rough week.  Around the nation people mourn and cling to what they love.  This time made us all stop and think.  We realize so quickly that though we may think we are safe we really aren't  There is evil everywhere.  Unfortunately this week, we were reminded of that yet again.  Although our world will never be the same, we must go on.  I feel in many ways sports helps us do that.  It certainly did for 9/11.  It did a few weeks ago for the KC Chiefs and has for several others this year.  Sports helps us take our mind away from the awful truth of the world if only for a little bit.  So with that said I continue with today's post.

We had a rough game on Saturday.  It was our first conference game and it was a battle.  We had a chance to win at the end of regulation.  All we had to do was hold the ball for a few seconds and it was ours.  Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way.  Sure there were many other chances we had to put it away and should have but that last few seconds it was just glaring.  Everyone was crushed.  WE had it only to see if slip through.  Then on to overtime.  Again several opportunities slipped right past and in the end we lost by a point.  I have always said as a coach or player that I would much rather loss by 100 than by 1 and that still rings true.  I know that may sound odd to many but there is logic.  If you get beat by 100 you know there was really nothing you can do.  If you lose by 1, you start looking at all the coulda, woulda, shoulda.  IT HURTS!

Walking into the locker room after that game I was disappointed.  Usually, win our lose there is some chatter and laughter coming from the players on the other side of the door.  As I opened it and walked in, I was met with a cloud of SILENCE.  Needless to says coach's post game wrap-up was short, not so sweet and to the point.  As I walked through the silence to exit the door on the other side, my heart broke for them.  I have worked with these girls almost everyday for the last 2 months.  Never had I seen such sadness from them at least not collectively.

That silence and sadness stuck with me the 22 hours.  I thought about what I could do to make things better.  To some how connect with them and let them know it would be better.  As an former athlete, when a lose stings like that you don't anyone saying anything to you.  It's just something you just have to deal with yourself but I still felt compelled to do something.  Then, sitting in church this morning, it HIT me.  The Lord really convicted me to pray for them.  Not only as a team, but each one by name individually.  Most of them are catholic and the others I am not really sure but the fact remains that God loves them all and made them all.  What better way to show my team that I love them and cherish their beings and long to help them than to take each one of them day by day to the feet of my Heavenly Father.  He is their Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace and Comforter.  What better gift could I give them this Christmas than to bathe each one in prayers to the One who knows exactly what they need.

So instead of the 12 days of Christmas, tomorrow I start the 12 Days of Prayer.  I will take the head coach and each player one by one to My Father in prayer.  Each day I pick I different name and left them up.  I don't know all of their needs, fears, worries, etc, but I know the One that does.  I must admit this is a little strange to me.  I have never done this for any team I coach, but the Lord just really laid it on my heart to do today.  If anyone wants to join me here is a link to the roster.  Please feel free to do it as you feel lead.  I know they, like I, could use all the pryers we can get.
http://www.udallasathletics.com/sports/wbkb/2012-13/roster

Withdraw

Well this entry will be short and sweet.  The team has been off sense last Wednesday and starting this week I won't be able to make it to that many practices due to my work schedule.  I realized on the way to work this morning that I am going through basketball withdrawal.  I never really have experienced this before.  Just makes me wonder, if its this bad now, how much worse will it be when the season is over.  Not sure I can handle that.  My hope is that it will be better because I know its over which right now isn't the case since we are in the heart of the season.  Guess we will wait and see.  Hopefully practice tomorrow will take away my withdraw symptoms.