Last night my basketball team went down in defeat (9-5) to Freedom Academy. This has been my first sojourn into the world of middle school girl sport coaching. I am very proud of our defense.
On my team of 9 players I have 3 who play their hearts out, come to every practice, and will try anything you ask them. There are 4 who like being part of a team, and if there is nothing better to do, they will come to practice where they primarily like to shoot lay-ups, get water, and play full court 'run and gun'. Everything else is tolerated good naturedly. (One of these has told me she doesn't like sport and has never watched a game of basketball. She is on the team because her friends are.) Then there are the 2 who begrudgingly participate in drills while telling me what they want to do. If they are passed the ball in our end of the court they will heave it at the basket regardless of if someone is wide-open under the goal. I find my experience spoiled by the last 2. The thing that really got me last night was overhearing one of the 2 bad-mouthing one of her own players after the game. I had a word with her about being part of a team, but she wanted to argue that she was only saying that the player was missing easy shots. (With only 5 points scored we had a lot of players who missed easy shots. Have I mentioned how proud I was of the defense?)
Primarily I want them to have a fun experience, but I don't feel like I can ignore the negative and self-centered attitudes. They should develop some sense of teamwork and joy in being part of a team. They should be talking up how proud they are of their defense!
Tonight is another game.
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