Turning a Loss Into a Win
Unfortunately, the team in which I assist with the coaching duties was on the receiving end of the drubbing, 45-15.
Our formidable hosts clearly had the edge in size, which we could see even before tip-off. In fact, I’m confident making the statement that they have the two tallest 13 year-olds in New England no matter how much hyperbolic stank that may wreak of. That is if they were actually 13.
As our team sat together in the bleachers waiting for the game preceding ours to finish up, I glanced around the middle school gym and noticed the 5 or 6 banners lining the walls, touting League Basketball Championships over the course of the last decade. Ominous to say the least.
I tend to size up our opponents during warm-ups; trying to match who on our team will cover their bigger guys and I know that most of our players do the same. But I think their analysis is limited to more generalizations like, “Wow, those kids are huge. We’re going to get killed.” After all, bigger is always more intimidating. But I’m not sure if they were taking in the banners as well on this particular day.
Our team certainly has its challenges. Some players lacking in skill, some lacking in hustle, and on our worst days, some lacking in both. But that’s why our head coach has slotted us in D4. We can be challenged and competitive at the same time even though we may not rack up the wins. For the most part, you always just want to feel like you're at least in the game.
In fact, last season as sixth-graders, this team finished the regular season 1-9 and entered the playoffs as the #10 seed. On our march through the playoffs, we knocked out the #7 seed, the #6 seed, and the #3 seed before losing to the #2 seed in the semi-finals.
The philosophy is simple. Play everyone equally, give everyone a chance to handle the ball, and make your players do things that are difficult and make them uncomfortable, such as dribbling with their weak hand, or taking the inbound pass on a full-court press. And do these things, even in a close game.
Because as coaches, we don’t care about wins and losses. The goal is to improve the skills of our players so that they can play at the next level if that is what they want to do. It’s not about winning the championship. It’s about getting better. And you do that by playing competitively and being challenged. Most importantly, you have fun. I learned these things from some of the great coaches I’ve been lucky enough to watch in action in the past and present.
Today, we were indeed challenged. And I was challenged as a coach. In games like this one, not only can it be difficult to remain upbeat, but we can easily lose sight of why we’re there in the first place, which is improving skills and having fun. We must be good role models for our players. And during a blowout loss when the opposing team’s coach yells “AND ONE!” whenever one of his players gets fouled in the act of shooting even when the ball doesn’t go in the hoop, it’s hard not to march up to him and kick him in the nuts as hard as I can. And as much as I like to think of myself as a nonviolent person, the thought of doing that crossed my mind on more than one occasion.
But I didn’t do that. Because it would be wrong. So instead, I watched our coach do one of the many great things he does and tell our players, like we always have, that he and I don’t care about the score, we don’t care about wins and losses. All we care about is that they’re working hard and executing the style of basketball that we work on in practice. Who cares if we win the game? Let’s try to chip away at the score, maybe win the next quarter, but at the very least, treat this game like a tough practice and try to work on all of the things we talk about. They do that and we guarantee them that they will be better basketball players by the end of the game than they were at the beginning of the game.
At the end of the four 8-minute quarters, our team was gassed. They'd worked hard, they were sweating, they were banged up, they were tired, and they're all going to sleep well later tonight.
And they’re all better basketball players than they were before the tip-off of today’s game, despite what the scoreboard says.
I do not think that team’s built to win become better players individually.
Our foes committed 19 fouls in 32 minutes of play today. In fact, I’m not even sure that this was a basketball team we were facing. It’s quite possible that it was actually the town football team just killing time, waiting for football season to start.
But whatever their athletic background, it’s a team that, for the most part, is not getting challenged.
I do not fault this team for having sizable players and playing at a higher level than our team’s ability. There are varying degrees of athleticism across the board with kids. I understand that. And this isn't a cry to go easy on teams in competitive sports or a plea to keep the games fair. That would be foolish.
But what I take issue with is this. Teams are able to pick the division in which they play, starting with Division 1 (the most challenging) all the way down to Division 5 (the least challenging). It is the responsibility of the coach and town to fairly slot themselves in an appropriate division based on their level of play. This team that we played today should not be slotting themselves in Division 4 to beat up on teams at the D4 level. But, while I guess for some it’s important to be challenged, for others, it’s more important to win. No one is doing those kids a favor.
This team was clearly grouped into two segments. A very big and skilled starting five who dominated the first half of the game and built them up to a big league; and then a lesser skilled group of bench players who, while seeing some action in the first half, started to get more playing time as a whole unit well after the game was out of reach. We matched up well against the bench squad. But this group of “subs”, kids who don’t get a lot of ball-handling or offensive chances until, most likely, they have a well-padded lead, are now given the opportunity to do so in garbage time. And the problem that this presents is that these kids playing in garbage time don’t take the court with the mindset of sportsmanship. They don’t see this as mop-up duty or running out the clock. This is their moment to show what they can do. So you see things like “Matthew” taking a 3-pointer when they’re already up by 30 points in the 4th quarter. Because this kid doesn’t get to do that in the heat of a competitive game.
And "Matthew" sinks his three and their bench, coach included, erupt in delight as we encourage our players to keep their heads up and keep playing hard. After all, we’ve actually taken some points back and chipped away at their lead now that we’re playing some kids we’re more evenly matched against. Chipped away enough for them to start taking threes? No. But keep your heads up. Let's finish strong. We will never be the team to take three-pointers if we are ahead by that much vs. anyone.
Those banners that line the gymnasium wall seem less impressive now.
I was curious to know if this team was dominating the D4 league. So I went on to the league site to look at the divisions and standings. Much to my surprise, this team is not undefeated. They actually suffered losses in their first two games of the season and are currently 3-2.
The records of the two teams that they lost to in games one and two of the season are 4-0 and 4-1, respectively. And while they lost to two teams that are well above .500, both games were relatively competitive, losing by only six points in game one and then 15 points in game two.
On the other hand, in the three wins that they have, including the one over us earlier today, they’ve won by 19 points, 38 points, and 30 points.
And this is disheartening because now it appears there’s possibly three teams in D4 who are playing at a much higher level than the bulk of the other D4 teams. And unfortunately, we have upcoming games against these two other 4-0 and 4-1 teams that beat our opponent who knocked our socks off earlier today. And it’s interesting that all three of these teams are all located down in the same southeastern part of the state. In fact, all three border each other. I wonder if these three towns are competing against each to take home the Division 4 title at the expense of the rest of the league.
And I’m not giving into defeat before either game has been played, but I won’t be surprised to notice a championship banner display in the gymnasiums of these two other teams when we visit them in the coming weeks. Even if there are, that will be ok. We play the teams that are on our schedule. And if the time comes, we will chip away at the score, try to win a quarter, and treat the games like tough practices in an effort to become better basketball players and coaches.
As we left the gymnasium and walked through the middle school parking lot after the defeat this afternoon, I was admittedly fuming inside. But I looked at my son and his two teammates, who we were driving home, and asked, as I always do, “Well, did you guys have fun?”
And without hesitation, all three answered, “Yes.” And that is the kind of Win we're playing for.
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