A Team Player

Every coach who coaches a team sport understands the challenge of getting players to buy into the concept of team. Players, by nature, want to be individually successful. They want to start, to get playing time, to score points, to grab rebounds, to be the one who made the assist. They want to feel important.

While this is what I want my players to desire, I also want them to accept the role which most benefits the team. Those roles when viewed by outsiders appear to be less significant but in the scheme of the team, they are of high value. Every team needs a player willing to be the screener, the one who gets the shooter open or a defensive stopper who refuses to allow the opponent's number one scorer to get her points or a rebounder who boxes her player out every time so a teammate can grab the ball. None of these stats are charted nor noticed by the media, but they are instrumental to the success of a team.

Every single player is of value to a team whether they are practice players who hustle every drill or scorers who get the nod for player of the week. In a team, every individual has to note her significance and build on it to create the unity needed to accumulate victories.

I think for the most part, we have team players but there is one player who has over the years bought into the team concept totally without remorse. After our game against Davis and Elkins, Katy Arick came to me asking if the possibility existed she could rest in our next game knowing our opponent was one who had yet to win a game. She has played throughout most of her career with knee pain, still throwing her body on the floor after any loose ball and taking charges even when the player dribbling toward the basket is thirty pounds heavier than her.

When I told her I would allow her to rest if she knew she needed it, but that the possibility existed she could potentially score a thousand points this year if she played in 30 games. Without hesitation she said, "Scoring a thousand points would be nice but it is simply not that important. Winning is important."

I knew she meant it. She left the idea of statistics behind her first year on the team, realizing winning was more fun than scoring a few points. She has been the ultimate team player since, doing what she can for the team, sacrificing her body and being the ultimate team leader. I am thankful for Katy's attitude and effort, for her willingness to play through pain, and for her recognition that what she does on and off the floor is incredible. She has made my life on the coaching floor so much easier.

Thank you Katy!

Letting Go and Believing

What does a coach do when she knows she has the makings of a great team but the team hasn't fully bought into that knowledge? I believe the Golden Eagles have the intelligence, the athleticism, the work ethic, the team chemistry, and the leadership to be awesome, yet we sometimes play as if we are tentative, afraid of what the outcome of the game might be, fearful perhaps there will be dire consequences. I've never seen a player shot for missing a basket, nor one executed for making a mistake.

Here is what I understand. I understand we are good but we are sometimes not aware of our own talents. This is not a new concept; it is the oldest play in the book. It is the card of unworthiness we all pull out on occasion, believing somehow we are not good enough to receive blessings. It is the negative drum beat we play, beating the same rhythm of unworthiness some coach or teacher or friend sold us when we were younger.

We have several players who can knock down the three pointer and shoot it with such consistency opponents have to respect them. We have intelligent players who can read screens, anticpate the defense and get an open look off reading a fade or a slip or a curl. We have a low block player who no defensive player can get around because her feet are so quick. We have players who can penetrate to the basket or stop and pop the jump shot. We have good free throw shooters and rebounders who can fly close to the rim. We have defensive players who can play opponents to their weaknesses. We truly have enough to be one of the best.

It is not the mistake or the error which haunts us; it is our ability to it go. It is not that we are not an awesome team; it is our ability to believe it. It is not the lack of skills our players have; it is our lack of recognition of those skills. We are so close to being great, to finding the winners within our bodies I get giddy with anticipation. If the team can hold onto the thought of greatness, let go of past mistakes, and believe in our talents, then we can create the future we so much desire.

Joy, Laughter and Success

This team is unique and different as all of my teams have been, but this one seems to generate energy off of fun and laughter. When they laugh together, they find unity and when they find unity, they play well. So in lieu of my usual intense self, I've had to relax with them and just enjoy the moment which quite frankly has made my life easier and less stressful.

As they have discovered fun, they have become stronger in their play. In our most recent two games, both of our opponents made hard runs at us, closing the gap within the final minutes, pushing us to change our tempo and our approach to the game. During timeouts when the game got tough, I looked into the eyes of our players and I didn't see fear or anxiety but the relaxation which comes only through faith and joy.

Some teams get angry at one another when things get tough, some scream and yell, others panic, or find fault with their teammates, but this team has decided somewhere in that vast mysterious part of the body called the brain to reach for joy. In the game against UPJ, as I gathered my coaches away from the bench during a timeout to discuss strategy, the players had already decided what they wanted to do and had found some manner of lightness with which to present it. By the time I got to them, I could see they had already made the resolution and pact to win, yet they politely gave me their attention as if trying to make me feel good about my efforts.

Winning to them is important but more importantly they want to feel good about what they are doing. They want to love the game and to love playing the game. By doing this, they have found the true key to success which is passion for what they are doing.

I am happy to be a part of what they are generating on a day-to-day basis. I have to keep reminding myself of who they are and how they operate--that they are fun-loving people who want the best from life. So the most important thing we can keep doing as a group is to continue to have fun, to laugh, to find the joy of doing our best and to allow those things to flow through us. I believe by doing this, success will simply flow and we won't have to strive hard for it.

Where Did They Go--The Dynamite Kids?

What happened to the dynamite kids, the ones who loved the anticipation of the last second of the game to see who won? Did they disappear into Christmas cheer? Did the holiday spirit envelope them? Did they forget the essence of who they were during their seven days of vacation?

Let me first determine I am okay with change. Change is inevitable as people evolve and these young women have evolved! Wowser! All of a sudden, there was confidence, an inner glow of knowing, of assurance, of the awareness they were good. It was as if they suddenly understood their talents.

In the first game after the winter break, we became the team that the Golden Eagles are known for--an intense, focused team with great defense, offensive play centered on togetherness, and players who knew their roles and performed them to perfection. We had inside-outside play with Tarenna solid in the low block, great three point shooting from Lindsey, Ali, and Chrissy, penetration to the basket from Tiana and Chrissy, substitutes coming off the bench to keep the momentum flowing and fast break lay-ups from a variety of players.

Defensively, we started to play our scouting report, defending the opponents to their weaknesses, and making them do things out of their comfort zone. Finally, we are talking more on defense, rotating to the open player and feeling comfortable getting out in the passing lane to get deflections and steals.

I am not sad the dynamite kids have disappeared or at least gone on furlough for a while. I am comfortable winning by twenty points, sitting down at the end of the game, breathing regularly and allowing everybody on the team to get playing time. For a moment, it felt to me like the teams I coached in 2005 and 2006 who played with such force and determination they regularly defeated opponents by 20 points. I liked that moment, watching the players on the court perform as I knew they could, watching them moving with ease and confidence, free of self doubt and full of passion for the game.

I hope the Dynamite Kids stay on vacation replaced by these women I saw on the court. While I loved the thrill and excitement of hanging onto the edge of every game, I'm okay with watching confident players doing what they do best.