Playing With Dynamite

I have coached teams who have consistently won games by 20 points, teams who have consistently lost games by 20, teams who have surged ahead in the last five minutes to win, teams who have lost in the second half, but I've never coached a team who wants to play each game to the last second of the clock . . . until now. It is as if these players are adventure sport athletes playing basketball. They want the thrill of mountain biking off cliffs, parachuting off the Empire State Building, ski jumping with triple flips, or just waiting until the final moment of each basketball game to decide what team wins. It is as if they like playing with sticks of dynamite.

I'm not a coach who can take this. When I was younger, in great shape working out 2 1/2 hours a day with heart and lungs working like a twenty year old, I might could have withstood the thrill. Might could have. Now, I find myself out of breath, gulping for air, heart pumping like I was sprinting the 100 meters, and closing my eyes rather than watching the finish. It is too much for this coach to take.

In the eight games we have played, we are barely scrapping by with a two point margin of victory (77.1 ppg to 75 ppg). We have had opportunities to win every game we have played and we have succeeded in half of them. In the ones we have lost, we have learned from the errors we made. Yet, with each new opportunity to play, we have been able to discover new ways to make errors. My players inform me they are simply getting through each and every possibility so they will have that particular game experience. They are excited by the wisdom and knowledge they have gained. YAHOO!

I'm not saying I'm not enthused by their new found wisdom but I'd prefer a little distance in games, a little safety where I can breathe regularly, and where I can sit down on the bench at the end of the game and know we have won without waiting for the final shot. Surely this is a possibility.

The ironic thing is my perception of these players is they are not the crazy, insane, off-the-court thrill seekers who might find danger in all they do. They are the stay-in-the-room watch movies, play-card-games types who might occasionally go out on the town to dance and let loose a little craziness. Perhaps they need to get their excitement from games. Perhaps this is the only place where they can play with sticks of dynamite. I guess in the scheme of things this is better for their mental, emotional and physical health. But is it better for mine?

Alas, it is the concept of team I must succumb too--not my own preferences. If it is better for them to play until the last (and I mean last second) of the game, then I must sacrifice my needs and wants for theirs. It is how the team concept works. We all must buy into what is best for team and I am a part of the team--not a separate entity. So all I ask of them is this: learn from all your end-of-the game experiences and apply them to the next contest, then we will win more than we lose which is what we all desire.