I wasn't planning on coaching this year because of my eye problems. But they weaseled me into it. When we showed up for our first practice with my son there were two teams there and the guy was going to coach both of them. So I volunteered but I think they knew I would all along.
With my eye problems I've been wearing an eye patch over my bad eye. So rather than sulk about it we decided to call our rec team the Pirates. I get endless pirate jokes from my local coaching friends. My older son suggested the team not call me coach but "captain". When my team puts our hands together in the huddle to yell "team" on 3 instead of saying "team" we yell "Rrrrrrrrrrr".
As with all basketball teams, prior to the first game you feel like you are going to win the championship. But with my sixth graders it turns out, since I was not at the initial draft, I ended up with a lot of players who probably have never played organized basketball before. They barely knew the rules. We lost 4 straight games but every week I kept working on basic skills, positioning, passing, inbound pass, breaking the press, shooting, dribbling, triple-threat posturing, helping each other on defense.
It eventually worked and we won our first game. Now I know this is only sixth grade rec but it felt like the Orange making the final four to me. After the game my team put their hands together in the huddle and screamed really loud "Rrrrrrr" after the on 3. Everyone was smiles and happy.
We then won a bunch more games and became tied with another team with the 3rd best record. They flipped a coin and my team is the #3 team in the playoffs. This is really hard for me to imagine based on the kids I had started with and our 0-4 start. I am thrilled to the bone just to be the #3 seed!
So tonight, we play team #2 in the quarter finals of the playoffs. The team we are playing beat us twice and they have the tallest kid in the league. My son is the 3rd tallest. We've had two practices and we've change our defense to a box-and-1 where my son will guard their best player the whole game. I've spent hours with my son moving his feet on defense and knowing how to box out properly on offense (which as you know is tricky).
Last Tuesday during our final game of the regular season my team played their best basketball of the season. It was amazing to watch. These kids really looked like basketball team. It was incredible! I kept hitting the assistant coaches arm every time they did something right. I just could not believe what I was watching. So I'm very hopeful we have chance to win tonight and make it into the championship game.
Wish me and my team luck for tonight! Go Eye Patch!!
