YBCA

I had been wrestling with this decision for a week or two, and after thinking it out, it was a no-brainer.  The team was going to coach themselves (or at the very least have no coach) for one of our tournament games this weekend.  We only had three games, and I wasn’t sure which one I would let them do, but I knew I wanted to do it.  So after our two Saturday games, I was gonna let them run the show for the Sunday game.  I didn’t think the boys would have a problem with it, but I knew parents might be a bit uncomfortable.  I had no idea what I was in store for. 

This is how it played out:

So here we are on Sunday afternoon in the stands at the gym waiting to play our game.  The boys are sitting below me, and most of the parents were sitting directly above me.  I have a good relationship with all the parents and I thought I should give them some warning.   I didn’t want to go into all the details of why I thought this would be a great idea, so I said something along the lines of: “These guys look to me too often for answers to things that they should already know, or at least should have the freedom to figure out on their own, so I’m going to let them coach themselves this game.  It may be ugly, but I cant think of a better time to do this, and they will learn a lot from it.  So when you look down and see me not doing anything, that’s why.”  I could tell by the look on their faces they really weren’t 100% sold, but to be fair it came out of left field.  They looked a little worried actually, but inside I was smiling. 

Now all was left to do was tell the boys.  In hindsight I should’ve told them the night before probably, oh well.  “I’m gonna let you guys coach yourselves this game.  You make all the decisions.  Call your own timeouts, do your own subs (we only have 6 guys), you guys are in charge.  Ill be on the bench but I’m not saying anything.”  They looked surprised and excited, and on the inside I was smiling even bigger than before. 

 

The Game.

Pre-tip huddle everyone is laughing and smiling like “this is so weird” one of them does an impression of me or another coach and they laugh and then set-up for the tip and the game gets going.  On the inside I hope they realize we are playing a smaller team and it would be great to use our size inside down low, but I know my guys better than that.  They all loooovvveee to play the perimeter and no three is too deep.  So we proceed to shoot every open 3 we get (they were in a soft 2-3 zone, so every 3 was open) and go like  0 for 15 from deep.  Thankfully the other team wasn’t much better, it was just ugly to watch.  No one for either side was scoring, and I’m sitting there watching and praying that someone would call a timeout so I could see what would happen during the huddle.  Finally the other coach calls a timeout halfway through the first half (20 min halves) and the boys come over to the bench and I stand with them wanting to hear what was going to be said.  Well, I realized quickly that me standing there over their shoulders was still like I was in charge, and no one really said anything. At least that’s what I hoped was the reason no one said anything.  (Our team doesn’t have a leader yet, there’s no one that has that personality, but they need one so that’s a big reason for doing this.) So I walk over to the scorer’s table and wait for the timeout to be over.  I don’t even look in their direction.  Well maybe a little…..and yeah no ones talking at all, great!  Game gets going again and more of the same.  The people sitting directly behind us I did not know.  They wanted us to win though because they didn’t like the team we were playing.  They turned out to be a coach of another team, his wife and their parents, basically just a very nice (and basketball knowledgeable) family. I figured that if they saw me walk and stand at the scorer’s table for every timeout and halftime they would think I was insane, so I turned to them and said with a smile “I’m letting them coach themselves this game, its tough.” They still looked at me like I was insane, so I learned that clueing them in on the plan wasn’t really necessary.  The other coach said “I couldn’t do that, no way, thatd be too tough”  I’m thinking to myself “Really? Why not? Its literally just a game” I was starting to see a pattern develop among adults. 

So, the first half plays on.  The other team calls a timeout or two, I walk to the scorer’s table, our boys get water and start talking a bit.  Im getting some weird looks/glares from the crowd so I try and talk to the clock guy the whole time.  I’ve tried to let everyone within earshot know what I’m doing, but I kind of start to get the impression that “yes we know you’re not coaching you’re team, and we don’t like it” is what much of the crowd is thinking.  Ahh oh well, my conscience is clear.  So with 40 seconds left in the 1^st half my team uses its first timeout, not really sure why, but I’m just glad someone did it.  I walk to the scorers table etc etc.  Halftime sounds and the score is ugly, both teams under 20 points.  We average 60 pts a game, our guys were a little frustrated.  I give them all hi 5’s and walk over to the scorer’s table.  I couldn’t believe what happened next.

I’m at the scorer’s table watching our guys get water and talk a bit, and suddenly the coach who was sitting behind our bench starts telling our guys what to do. “If yall would just spread the floor and attack they can’t stop you” Or “Get it down low, work the inside” etc etc.  I immediately walk over there smiling and say something like “no no no, I want them to decide what to do and figure it out by themselves.  I know what you’re saying, but I want them to do it.” I literally stood in-between him and my team and told him again what we were doing. He was nice about it, and tried explaining the strategy to me, but he didn’t get the point of the whole exercise.  He could not help himself, he had a great heart about it, and I can totally see where he was coming from, but that’s not what I wanted.  I wasn’t interested in the score near as much as I was to see if they would come together as a team. 

So the second half started and both teams start playing better. We start making shots start getting steals and fast breaks, but the other team answers most everything we do.  We still getting the ball inside, but we are making shots and the crowd is getting louder. During each timeout, I continue to walk over to the scorer’s table, try not to notice the glares from the crowd, and keep an eye out to ensure no one steps in to “save these kids”. Our boys are talking to each other better during timeouts. They seem to be at least considering what's going on in the game.  So the last minute of the game and we're up four points with the ball. Instead of running any clock, we continue to play full-steam ahead. The crowd behind me is going crazy.  They were all screaming “Don’t shoot! Make them foul!” etc. Everything that I would be saying, they were screaming for me.  I sat on the bench with my mouth shut.  We shoot a quick shot, miss, and the other team goes down and scores.  Two point game with 20 seconds left, our ball.  Same thing happens again, we rush, turn it over, ball goes to the other team with 10 seconds, we are up 2.  A timeout is called, I stand at the scorer’s table and our guys huddle up.  I kind of hear one of them mention not to foul (both teams in bonus), and I was proud.  So here we go. The other team passes it around and we get a steal and kick it up ahead to our guy breaking down the court with a fairly-open layup with about 5 seconds left…….Crowd is sreaming, “don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” well, he shoots the layup….misses, and someone fouls the rebounder and sends their team to the line to shoot 2 with 1 second left.  He nails them both.  Theres 1 second left, we call a timeout, our guys huddle up and discuss, and they get a pretty good deep look at the basket with no time left and it nearly goes in. Overtime. The game I let them coach themselves, goes to overtime. How perfect is that?  I couldn’t have asked for a better experience for them.

 

Overtime starts and its back and forth. We hit some big shots, but the other team answered with their own big shots. 8 seconds left in overtime and we’re tied, our ball.  Our guys call time out and huddle up. I walk to the scorer's table and try to hear from about 20 feet lol.  We get the ball in to one of our best penetrators and he takes it to the rack hard, gets slapped, misses the shot….. no foul.  Double-overtime.

An ugly first half turned into a wild game. Everyone was screaming, even more so because I wasn't doing any coaching.

The second overtime starts, we continue to play well, the other team goes cold and we win by four, 54-50. 

 

I shouldve thanked the entire crowd for a great job coaching.

 

Yes, our boys should’ve probably ran some clock, and made some different choices but they are smart! I want them to make that decision, why should it come from me? 

I wish I could say that our guys were thrilled but they weren't. They knew they hadn't played well. Winning was better than losing, but we knew we should've beat that team by a lot. The post game atmosphere in the gym was just weird. There was a little bit attention from parents, from the players, and definitely from the crowd in the stands, toward me.  One of the referees came up to me after the game and said, “nice job coaching” just about as sarcastically as possible.

On the ride home, all I could do was think about what happened. I cannot believe it was such a big deal. To me, whats very sad is that the crowd would’ve been more OK with me screaming in the kids faces, than not coaching them at all like I did.  That’s how twisted kids sports has become.  I challenge anyone reading this to give this a shot, and see what happens. 

I wish I could say that I had a leader step up and take control, but I didn’t.  I wish I could tell you that our guys talk to each other and communicated, just like I wanted them to on the floor, but they didn’t. So I started to think about why. Why don't we have a leader? If you coach a team  and you don't have a leader, why? To me the answer is that one has never been allowed to develop. If the coach is always leading, then who else can step up lead? We need to create an environment that allows leaders to develop, and that means getting out of the way.  It’s the kids’ team, not ours, and it’s a game, not life and death. My eyes are opened like never before.

There is so much more I could say about what happened on Sunday, but this is long enough and I hate typing.  Thanks for reading.