Update

Over the past semester, I had the opportunity to coach an 8th grade girls basketball team...It's actually Dee's younger cousin's team...Anyway...It was a roller coaster! Girls are very different from boys, well, at least this group of girls...When I was growing up, basketball was my life...Day in, Day out, I played basketball. I never missed practice, games, open-gyms, tournaments, and any other times I had the opportunity to shoot around or just dribble a basketball...Out of the 7 girls, only 2 of them came to practice and games consistently...From my basketball background, I assumed that anyone who was in a team, cared about being on a team and cared about PRACTICING and PLAYING in games. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for this team. When I showed up to the first practice I explained to them that basketball is not all about WINNING...I don't think they ever understood that. To me basketball is a sport that builds character. And I tried my very best to explain that to them. All they cared about was missing practice, messing around at practice if they did show up, and playing in games, WANTING to WIN every game. To me that doesn't add up...And when we lost games (4 total) you could see the disappointment in their faces. ????? Anyway...when we lost our second game, the other coach and I sat them down and asked them what they wanted to get out of playing on this team...Overall, they wanted to WIN... IS that possible?

From that day, the girsl changed...They started to trust me and the other coach a lot more, and for some reason, they had the mindframe of learning to play the game. See, according to Dee, these girls never had a coach that ever cared about them learning to play the game of basketball. When I was asked to help out, I didn't hesitate and my primary goal was to teach them how to PLAY!!! NOT TO WIN...TO PLAY!!! See there's a big difference. I wanted them to IMPROVE, to LEARN how to work together as a team and to build CHARACTER...I'm not sure if they ever reached the optimum level, but they did come a long way...We ended up winning the North Division Championship! The first time these girls ever made it to a championship basketball game. Check this out...because we were the North Division Champs we had the opportunity to play in the NORTH/SOUTH Championship! (keep in mind these are PRIVATE school teams. PUBLIC school is very much different) So this was THE game to be in...Unfortunately, we lost, to the school that Dee works at...haha...how ironic! Anyway, all I have to say is that I am really proud of these girls...In the last two games, they showed me and the other coach, how teamwork, dedication, and leadership can make a basketball team successful!!!