Game 2

Well our second basketball game this year was much improved over the first, despite the handicap of having two injured players. In our first game the players weren't talking, they were all trying to be Jordan or someone else that they thought was a one man team, and there were several tugging matches over who was going to get the ball. I told them they could play the first game their way so I fully expected to lose it, and lose we did (30-10). Thursday was a hard practice for the kids and challenging for me as well, I had to explain to the kids a lot of stuff that I don't quite fully understand myself about basketball, and there was MAJOR emphasis on teamwork since trying to be a superstar got us nowhere. The kids payed attention of the majority of practice and were in a much better position to play effectively as a team.

Game day:
I found out game day morning that two of my kids couldn't play. One had gotten a staff infection on his leg and the other had an accident at school during gym. So I had to redo my starting lineup and substitution forms 10 minutes before the game. I explained to the kids that it was going to be a long game since I didn't have enough people to rotate everyone at each substitution opportunity. I must have looked pretty whipped because one of my kids came up to me and said, "It's ok coach, we can handle this. We have the heart you went on and on about at practice. We'll do our best and feel better for it." I took a minute to gather my thoughts and them gave them a rather sappy pep talk and motivated them as best as I could. The hit the court cheering themselves on ready to play. For the first 6 minutes I was amazed. I just stood in awe for probably the first 3 minutes. I watched my players actually hustle up and down the court, I saw players that can't sink a basket in practice, just lob them into the basket like it was nothing and get back down the court ready to defend. At half time I told them how proud I was, that this was the "heart" I was talking to them about. They were fired up more than they were before the start of the game and all they asked me was who was starting the second half, what are we doing wrong, and whats the score? So I told them what to work on and they said ok, we can do that. The score at halftime was 26-14, I had to recount the marks I made twice just to be sure.

The second half of the game wasn't as good as the first from the playing standpoint, fatigue was setting in and not planning on leaving until after nap time. The opposing team hit the court and just looked whipped. I imagined little signs over their heads that said "put us out of our misery." The score got a little closer and the guys were keeping it together for the most part. The part that I was amazed about in the second half was that the other team was pretty worn out and fouling a little bit, but more importantly they were falling down and tripping a lot. Don't ask me why, for the life of me I don't know. My kids did me proud though, they didn't get upset about getting fouled on, they just listened to the ref and shook it off. When the other kids tripped or fell down, they stopped and helped them up patting them on the back as they caught up with the rest of the team. Final Score 36-28.

Post game I let the assistant coach hand out the stars while i ran to my truck real quick and got some stuff for the kids. When I showed back up a few minutes later the kids had waited on me to be there for handing out the stars, so I could be a part of it. After the stars were handed out I told them how proud of them I was, for the improved play, for their sportsmanship that they showed the other players, and for their heart. I was more than happy to reward them with crackerjacks and sunny D. They just lit up and said thanks. I got the sweatiest hugs i think I've ever gotten in my life. I thought to myself as I talked to some of the parents and watched my players leave for the day that this is what upwards is all about.