Weekly Wrap Up

I look back at this week and have a strong sense of confidence in myself and in the players that the next two weeks will also be productive. Of course, it is very important for me to stay focused and not be satisfied with just one good week. I must also express this to the kids as well. We can not let this one good week spoil the rest of the improvement that is possible. We should try and build upon this great start.

This week I learned a lot about my own strengths and weaknesses. For example, I was extremely impressed with my ability to connect to the players and make basketball an easy game to learn and love. This was my main concern going into this project. I thought that I would not be able to explain things to them in ways that they would understand. Odd enough, this turned out to be one of my strengths out there. I think the weakness that I would like to improve on is my overall patience with myself. What I mean by that, is that I don't let myself get flustered, if in fact the kids are having trouble with something. I wouldn't get mad at them at all, it was more a damper on my own confidence because I felt like I was not teaching them well enough. I talked to my coach about it and he said that it comes with experience and that he feels I will get better as these next few weeks continue on.

One thing I must say is that I absolutley love what I am doing. Seeing someone benefit from your teachings is a wonderful feeling. Knowing that I have affected someones life in some way instills a sense of pride within me. I definitely feel that I am benefiting from this project in ways that I probably couldn't have experienced otherwise. This is a great experience and I am thankful for it.

One thing that I wasn't expecting was how well the kids would respond to criticism. This wasn't negative criticism, but criticism none the less. There are so many kids who feel that the coach is wrong no matter what they do. I used to play with a kid like that. He could have been so much better if he had just listened to what the coach had to say. Throughout my years playing, the number of kids like this have increased rapidly. I was expecting to get atleast 2 or 3 kids that would just disregard everything I had to teach them, but I got none and I am somewhat happy for that. I think that if I had atleast one disobedient player, it would be a great challenge for me to see how I would handle the situation. I always have had opinions about what I would do to a player who didn't listen, but I never had to take any action. I feel like a small dose would have been interesting.

I think I can benefit from this weeks activities in a couple of ways. After this week, I have come to know every players strengths and weaknesses on the court. Next week, I plan on also attempting to learn their strengths and weaknesses off the court. School work, extra cirricular activities, ect. I think this will show them that I truly care about them, instead of me being there just to teach them a move or two in the world of basketball. I can also take from this weeks activites that every kid is here to learn and get better. Almost every drill was done at 100%. Hopefully, next week, every single drill will be done at 100% or more. I also feel that with this week of activities, I am comfortable with the kids limits and potential on the court.