Coaching

Well this is entirely new to me so if there is a specific way I'm supposed to go about doing this please let me know. For now I'm just gonna talk about whats going on in my life as of late...

Well probably my favorite thing thats going on right now is coaching an 8th grade boys basketball team, I've coached for 4 years and its always rewarding to see their progression. This season has been an interesting one, each player has shown significant improvement in their skills and they are much more coachable than previous teams I've been with. I'll give a brief description of each player:

Austin- He is the smallest player on the team so he plays point guard. Throughout the beginning of the season he was pretty selfish with the basketball and didn't like to listen to the game plan, he has a pretty good shot but he doesn't handle the ball super great. Over time he has become more unselfish and follows instructions almost perfectly so he is much more enjoyable to coach.

Braidon- Plays either point guard or shooting guard. Braidon is a special player, I was very impressed with his skills in every aspect of the game so he was my first pick in the draft. Later on I learned that he is deaf so I was a little worried about how I was going to communicate with him, luckily he reads lips extremely well so i just have to make sure he can see my face when I give instruction.

Dallas- Plays either shooting guard or small forward. Dallas has been really fun to coach because he pays attention to instruction and he utilizes it on the court in games when most of the others need to hear it a few times to sink in. He is the type of athlete that isn't super talented but he hustles more than anyone else and is very physical which i love!!! He's pretty short but he can box out like a mad man even when the opponent is much taller than him.

Dusty- Plays shooting guard or small forward. Each team always has to have a player who goofs off the most just like a class always has a class clown and that's Dusty. He doesn't seem like he's really into sports he is more of the skater type but he is pretty naturally athletic and is our best defender AKA our "Jackson Emery" lol. He played conservative for the first few games and out of nowhere he just started getting like 5 steals a game.

Oakley- Plays small forward or power forward. Oakley is probably the player that I've grown closest to because I've done a couple one on one practices with him. Turns out he had never played on a basketball team before this year which is really surprising because he has a lot of talent and is probably our leading scorer.

Noah- Plays power forward or center. Noah is a skinny kid who is pretty timid on the court, it took him a while to realize its ok for him to shoot the ball haha.  He has made some great improvements also, he still has a tendency to jump backwards off of one foot when he shoots in the post because he's scared to draw contact but he is getting better.

Parker- Plays power forward or center. He amazes me because he is a beefier kid but doesn't seem to ever get tired during the games I don't understand it. Parker is also a great listener like Dallas and he uses what he learns on the floor. One other thing I like is he has started using his big body to box out and he does a great job.

Adam- Plays center. Adam is our big man even though he's not very big but he hustles and has long arms to gobble up the rebounds, he has skipped going camping and getting his hunter safety to be at our games so I'm really proud of him for showing dedication and wanting to help the team.

Well that's everyone, we still have 2 games left and I'm really excited but kinda bummed that the season is ending because we're just starting to become meshed as a team and work well together. I just hope that I've been able to leave a good impression on these kids and that they'll continue to pursue the game I love.