It is, and has long been, my sincere opinion that the best way to reverse the negative course that Black America's been on for decades is one child at a time. Adults are pretty much who they're gonna be by age 21. So, if you're 21 and effed' the eff' up, why bother? I prefer to spend the limited time I've got to help out the chill'rens. Cause we all know the chill'rens are our future.
I advocate working with kids, especially middle schoolers, because they're at an age where they're still somewhat pliable and might even listen. Over the years I have mentored and tutored middle schoolers, but nothing is more rewarding and fun than coaching basketball. I started this in college at the YMCA across the street from my
The county assigns you players if you're starting a new team, so unless you personally know some kids who can ball (which I didn't when I started), your talent level is really the luck of the draw. The first set of kids I had 5 years ago (The Blazers) happened to have an abundance of talent. We had kids who could already play (including one who will most certainly get a D-1 scholarship in a few years) and just needed some guidance. Over the 3 years that I coached them, The Blazers went 22-2, losing the only two games (badly might I add) to an AAU squad that was the 12-and-Under national champions. I foolishly thought this meant I could actually coach.
Boy was I wrong.
Last year, me and my buddy/assistant coach ANewP (who comments here every now and then) got a new batch of kids (The Panthers), and well, let's just say the talent level isn't what it was with the Blazers. Not even close. We finished the season 2-6, with one of our wins coming at the expense of a team that really should have chosen to play lacrosse instead. We beat those kids like a pack of rented mules (30 point win), but our other losses (all by 20+ points) were humbling to say the least. My confidence as a ooach, as well as my dedication to volunteering waned, but when we won our final game (versus a team that murdered us the first time), I felt like we were turning the corner.
Uhhh, not so much.
[Editor's Note: The names of the kids and parents have been changed for very obvious reasons.]
This year, the Panthers are back, and the same lazy practice habits that haunted us last year have returned. They arrive late to practice, are always distracted during drills, and just don't seem to take the whole concept of "focus" very seriously. In the back of my mind, I'm thinking we're prolly gonna go 0-8 this season unless something gets into these kids pronto. The first game is this Sunday afternoon. Wish us luck. We'll need it, and then some.
Will the Panthers improve upon last year's 2-6 record or regress? Will the parents stage a mutiny? Will ANewP and Coach AB get Sprewelled before all is said and done? Stay tuned to The Basketball Diaries this season and watch the drama unfold.
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Coach AB,
Did you give your panthers the "Sick Mother" Speech? That's bound to work eventually.
Man you should go coach football. It's much easier that basketball because there are plenty of drills that you need complete focus. Plus you don't have the "superstar" syncdrome that you get in basketball. All you have to do is line up your best tacklers on one side and everyone else who wants to play running back or quarter back on the other side. Have them run through some cones and get tackled. After that, only the true studs want to be running back/quarterback at that point.
That's great that you coach those boys.
Did you try to do some reverse psych. on their butts by leaving when they show up late. Maybe you should make the boys that come late go home. Better yet have a scrimmage and let them get their butts beat and then tell them to get used to that kinda spanking.
I know your not gonna let those boy Sprewell you! lol
@ CJames
I can't spell Futbol, let alone coach it. I'm stayin' in my lane.
But yeah, I'mma keep the infamous "sick mother" story in my bag of tricks just in case. I'll have to tell that one in an upcoming chapter.
@ Nicole
We have tried every Jedi Mind Trick in the arsenal. Sometimes kids just "don't have it" and this might be such a team. We'll see how how they do Sunday though.
It's been my experience that the best way to make a team better, get some focus and some team unity is by running and working the dog shit out of them. Sounds harsh but it always works. Tell the parents in advance what you have planned and then the next day have em on the line hitting them suicides. By letting the parents know you do a couple of things: you get them on your side and involved and you are letting them know whats going on. Parents are always open to their kids harsh treatment in sports as long as they can play a role in it. You also have to implement my favorite saying into their pyshcie(sp) which is "Discipline is not the enemy of enthusiasm" Morga Freeman as Joe Clark in Lean On Me 1989
@ Kirby
Actually, we run the living sh*t out of these kids every week. It's one of the few tactics that they respond favorably too. When they blow assignments, if I see someone's eyes drifting, if they fail an impromptu "quiz" on drills, the entire team runs. This effect is usually temporary at best, because they revert right back and have to run again, which ultimately takes away from instruction time.
We'll see what happens today.
When my oldest started playing Pop Warner football, the coaches gathered all the parents around after the first workout session and started yelling at them "I seen too many kids out there throwing up today! You have to make these kids go to BED at night, PUT DOWN the SODA and the XBOX, and DO NOT FEED THEM BEFORE PRACTICE! They need REAL FOOD and no more Cokes ALL SEASON. Go buy some salad or something and stop going to McDonalds. Parents, you have to TAKE CHARGE of these kids if you want them to win!"
After years of mealy-mouthed "everyone is special" BS from the school system, I was stunned... then I was f'ing thrilled. We had a good season too, 6-3 but we missed the playoffs in a heartbreaker.
Also, ladies might be interested to know that our QB was a girl, and she was feared by the opposition. That girl was running kids down all day. If they were 3rd and long, it was QB sneak for the win, every time.
@ Spool
Much easier said than done. When you have kids with discipline problems or issues with authority, it's typically a microcosm of what's going on at home. I'm learning this firsthand this year.
Watch for tomorrow's Chapter Two.
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