Thursday, January 10, 2008

What was I thinking?

I am coaching Jake's basketball team. Any of you who know me, know that I don't play basketball, nor do I know anything about it. Brent LOVES basketball and plays any chance he can get. We even found him a used portable basketball stand on Craig's List so he can shoot in the driveway. How did I end up as coach? Basically, it comes down to procrastination. Jacob told me in the middle of soccer season that he wanted to play basketball in the winter months. Last year at this time, he wanted to try karate. I told him he couldn't do both and he still chose basketball. Sounds great. The Lakewood parks have a great rec sports league that is even free. Lets do it.
A few weeks go by. The signs go up informing the community when sign-ups for basketball are and Jake even comes home with a flyer from school. Did I pay attention to any of that? NO. The sign-up dates came and went. Jake asks me, "Hey mom, when do I start having basketball practice?" D'OH!!!
A few days later, I go into the park office and ask if it is too late to sign up. They said he could be put on the waiting list UNLESS, I wanted to coach. UGH. It is my fault for not being on the ball.
I go home and talk to Brent. Did he think I could coach a sport I knew nothing about? Granted, I have had lots of experience teaching kids. All through college, I taught swim lessons and I am not a swimmer. I could do this. Brent thought I could too. We made a deal. I had time to coach, he had the knowledge of the game. We could be a team.
Fast forward to last Tuesday night. Our first practice. Brent is in ROMANIA, and I am on my own. As the kids gather, we get to know everyone's name, talk to the parents, hand out information, etc. I can do this. I am great with kids. We start with some stretching; totally doable, I used to teach water aerobics. I got this. I am animated, silly, having fun. The kids are eating this stuff up. Now, it is time for drills. I had spent hours online, looking for coaching tips and I had made a cheat sheet of drills we could do. I even tried to make many of them into games. It went okay for a few minutes. Then, I tried to introduce the zone defense that the league uses for the smurf age division. This is where it all goes downhill. There are lines one the court showing the kids the different defensive zones. The idea is to tell each kid where to stand and to stay in their zone. Seems simple enough. Not so much.
I was a mess. I told the parents I would need help and they were trying to be so polite, and stay out of the way, but I was making a fool of myself and they came to my rescue. One of the girls on my team is the daughter of a woman I went to high school with. OUR STAR GIRLS' BASKETBALL PLAYER. She played in high school AND college. She steps in. She asks me if it is a 1-2-1 defense or a 2-3. uuuhhhh, HUH? I am clueless. I felt like the stupid cheerleader that knew nothing about the sport, and she knew that I was that stupid cheerleader not that long ago.
Anyway, I survived. It should be an interesting few weeks. I'll keep you posted.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

you're so brave!!! who was the girl from high school?

Leyla... said...

The things we do for our kids! Good luck! I know you'll be a fabulous coach!!!!

Jeanette said...

the girl from school was Rhonda Anderson. I may have had a few classes with her. I think she graduated the same year as me.

Carolyn said...

You are SO brave but I am sure you can do it! Remember, the kids are having fun whether or not you know what you are doing. Just have fun and they will!