On and off the court

I think this has been by far the most satisfying week of teaching and coaching that I've experienced this entire year. First of all, I've got to say that in the classroom I finally feel like I have control. Don't get me wrong there are still things I have to address every now and then, but for the most part it is such a cool job. It is such a high too when I am on top of my game as a teacher. Plus, their behavior is starting to be a product of my teaching style, rather than my behavior being a product of their disruption in class. I hope I can keep it up.

Now, while teaching has been extremely rewarding lately, I've got to say that the biggest part of this week being so satisfying has been the coaching/teaching I've gotten to do on the court this past week. I have been very fortunate this year to have such a talented group of kids. My 8th grade class coasted through the football season 6-0 and ended up winning the city title. Now, it's basketball season and we're already off to a 5-0 start despite playing mediocre basketball the past 2 games. Now, I always thought the most challenging coaching tasks would occur when you can't win....when you just don't have talent. Well, one thing I've realized is when you're losing you open yourself up to learn a lot of life lessons. You learn about never giving up, about trusting your teammates, about controlling your emotions and losing with class. Well, my players are starting to become really cocky and uncoachable. Early on this week, there was a lot of finger-pointing, name-calling, and cussing when we finally weren't winning with ease. Our character was starting to show. And because our guys are constantly told by our teachers, administration, and parents how good they are, they are starting to not work as hard. Now, I still have tendencies of not wanting to step on anyone's toes because I'm technically still new, but yesterday in practice I had enough. I asked our coach if he would stop practice and let me speak to two of our top players individually in the coach's office. It was such a good experience. I was able to level with them of how I've seen their character and work habits deteriorate by their arrogance. I closed by reminding them of how much I liked each one, and how much potential I saw in each one. I had one kid whose eyes started watering; not for shame, but because he finally saw that I wanted him to not only be a good player, but a good leader/kid. It was emotional; I'm not going to lie. But after practice that day, I felt like I had done my coaching job to the best of my ability.....it was a feeling like none I've ever had. Today in practice, I was blown away with how hard we played and how much camaraderie our guys had. I then had one of my best teaching sessions with my post players, and they even started putting it into play when we scrimmaged. I'm not going to lie either; we are good when we play hard. They are so talented it blows me away. They would've kicked my butt as an 8th grader. Anyways, I think it's time for me to close this out. This is such a cool job.