Well the season is now officially over. I just spent the last two months coaching for my daughters 7th grade basketball team. What an enlightening experience it was. In her 7th grade class they have three levels of teams A, B and C. We were the C team which meant that the girls were more there for the social aspect than the willingness to become champions. It’s not that they didn’t want to win, they really did, it was just that winning had to revolve around conversations about the movie Twilight and what exciting things happened at school that day. We had a few competitive girls on the team but not a lot of talent. In the beginning of the season I would tell them that “they don’t give out scholarships for assists” so shoot the ball. Little did I know that shooting was our weakness. We must have put up 400 shots during the season only to convert 15% of them. By the end of the year I was telling them that not one of them would ever have to go through the pain of getting cut from their high school team, because none of them are going to be asked to try out. Ok, so I am no Bobby Knight but I did learn a few things along the way.
We did win some games, half of them to be exact. The girls never gave up and always had a smile on their face. If they missed an outside shot they would try a layup. If they missed a layup they would try a three pointer. But they always tried.
We as parents can learn a lot from my girl’s team. Continue reading »