I've never been around another group of anything that I would call more of a "team" than my class of 2010 17u Comets Elite team. The members of that team were: Alex Hanks, Jordan Riewer, Erik Tengwall, Mike Johnson, Shaun Condon, Taylor Filipek, Zach Noreen, Scott Willenbring, Dan Kornbaum and Ben Bucholz. I could use this space to go on and on about their accomplishments and how big a part of all of their success that myself and the Comets organization were. That's not my purpose. Instead I'm going to try and explain how much that team taught me. What they taught me is that a team isn't seen, a team is felt.
They were all extremely talented. They were all the stars of their High School teams. They were BMOC at their schools. They were all being recruited. They were all being told on a daily basis how great they were. But when they got together in the gym, they were none of that. They wanted none of that BS. They were unselfish. They were already winners. They wanted to become better winners, so they became more unselfish. And, most importantly, they loved each other. In turn, I learned to love all of them. They were, to steal a phrase from 2015 nomenclature, "my guys". It was the first, and maybe the last, time that I could coach a team as myself. They didn't want to be coddled. When their effort was crap, I told them. And, when I challenged them the most wonderful thing happened, they responded. Over and over that spring and summer they responded. Tournament after tournament they responded. They, impossibly, got closer and closer. I got closer to them; they got closer to me. We became a family. I've never been around a team that cared for each other so much. Their success was secondary to their buddies success. They celebrated each other's scholarship offers rather than worry why they hadn't gotten one offered instead. They picked each other up when someone came to the gym flat or sad or just tired. They picked me up when we had early morning games and the AAU coaches from other programs (that I wont name) kept me out too late the night before. I've pulled for these guys for going on 6 years now. Last night Jordan Riewer's career ended, ending the collegiate run of my favorite team. I've had so much fun following these guys. I've been so proud of their achievements. Most of all, I've learned from them what a team truly is.
Thank you to Alex, Jordan, Erik, Shaun, Mike, Zach, Taylor, Scottie, Danny and Ben
You guys are the best.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
This courtship is a bunch of courtshit
Preface: This post will piss some people off. It will probably piss off some people I really like. During my time coaching AAU I met some wonderful people. Not just people, friends. Good friends. There are great people, doing great things for our young basketball players. Here comes the but...BUT, even the best intentioned AAU coaches are stuck playing a game that has no rules.
A grown man (or woman) is texting your son (or daughter) after every single game they play. They are facebooking them after every game they play. They are tweeting at them after every game they play. They are telling them how good they are, how good they played, how much they can help their game, how crappy their HS coach is, how crappy the other AAU program is (while that program is probably texting the player at the same time). I know they are, because I did it. I woke up on Wednesdays and Saturdays and looked at the paper (it was the old days) and looked for high scorers, stat-stuffers, etc. Once I narrowed in on a player, I texted my existing teenage contacts and tried to get the number for my newly discovered teenage talent. Then, once I got the number, I texted them. I tried early on to call, and not text. The problem is, teenagers don't answer the phone. But we, the AAU coaches, we can't handle not making contact, the chance that another program is beating us to them, not telling them how much we think of them, so we text. We text teenagers. Texting turned in to facebooking, which turned into tweeting. There are grown ups telling our teenage players how good they are at every single turn. Those grown ups aren't their parents, they're basketball people, basketball coaches. They are the exact same basketball people that bitch about entitlement and transfer-itis. This makes no sense. What we are doing, or allowing, makes no sense.
This is just the beginning. I'm going to write more on this. I'm going to start asking HS coaches what they think about their players being courted during the season. I'm going to ask them how they feel about their players being forced to think about April in January. I'm going to ask the parents of the players that are being courted what they think about their son or daughter's courtship. I have no doubt that plenty of players and their parents love being courted. Attention feels good to us all. My question is, is it good for the player? Is it good for the team? And, most importantly, is it good for basketball.
My premise is that basketball is, or should be, better than this. That this courtship is a bunch of courtshit and is bad for the people, bad for teams and bad for the game.
Some of this is written for effect. I want to make it sound bad. I think it is bad. How bad? That I don't know, but I am going to try and find out. Most of you wont want to touch this issue, so...If you have comment on AAU courtship and wish to remain anonymous, feel free to email me at 10khoops.josh@gmail.com or call/text me at 612-390-9047
.
A grown man (or woman) is texting your son (or daughter) after every single game they play. They are facebooking them after every game they play. They are tweeting at them after every game they play. They are telling them how good they are, how good they played, how much they can help their game, how crappy their HS coach is, how crappy the other AAU program is (while that program is probably texting the player at the same time). I know they are, because I did it. I woke up on Wednesdays and Saturdays and looked at the paper (it was the old days) and looked for high scorers, stat-stuffers, etc. Once I narrowed in on a player, I texted my existing teenage contacts and tried to get the number for my newly discovered teenage talent. Then, once I got the number, I texted them. I tried early on to call, and not text. The problem is, teenagers don't answer the phone. But we, the AAU coaches, we can't handle not making contact, the chance that another program is beating us to them, not telling them how much we think of them, so we text. We text teenagers. Texting turned in to facebooking, which turned into tweeting. There are grown ups telling our teenage players how good they are at every single turn. Those grown ups aren't their parents, they're basketball people, basketball coaches. They are the exact same basketball people that bitch about entitlement and transfer-itis. This makes no sense. What we are doing, or allowing, makes no sense.
This is just the beginning. I'm going to write more on this. I'm going to start asking HS coaches what they think about their players being courted during the season. I'm going to ask them how they feel about their players being forced to think about April in January. I'm going to ask the parents of the players that are being courted what they think about their son or daughter's courtship. I have no doubt that plenty of players and their parents love being courted. Attention feels good to us all. My question is, is it good for the player? Is it good for the team? And, most importantly, is it good for basketball.
My premise is that basketball is, or should be, better than this. That this courtship is a bunch of courtshit and is bad for the people, bad for teams and bad for the game.
Some of this is written for effect. I want to make it sound bad. I think it is bad. How bad? That I don't know, but I am going to try and find out. Most of you wont want to touch this issue, so...If you have comment on AAU courtship and wish to remain anonymous, feel free to email me at 10khoops.josh@gmail.com or call/text me at 612-390-9047
.
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