The Eaglet

From 7-20-14

When I worked with a youngster, I tried to keep in mind that I was blessed to have the opportunity to teach the most important thing parents have, their child. A young student had to "want" to play to be a part of our program. I couldn't "make" them play basketball, but once they committed, it gave me much leverage with them. We told them that we couldn't make them a bit better than they wanted to be! They were going to give up one of the most important things they have in life--their time. We approached teaching the skills as if we were putting a puzzle together. There are many little parts or little skills, which might not seem important, but if they didn't learn to do them right it lessened their chance to be successful. "Good habits make good players"! I remember one time we were explaining our expectations for the players when one of the candidates went over to one of the assistants and said, "Why are we wasting our time? We already know how to play!" He really didn't know how to play the way we play, or the desire to learn the "right" way, and he disappeared shortly thereafter. There were always students walking the halls that had more talent than some of our players, but they weren't willing to "pay the price" to be a part of our team. I felt that I had the responsibility to teach them some more important things than how to shoot, throw or kick a ball. Many of our teachers & coaches drop out of the profession in their first year on the job. This is sad, as they never give themselves a chance to see the final product of their efforts. It is like planting an apple tree, rushing out the next day to see if it has produced fruit, then giving up & cutting the tree down because it is not productive. I like to tell a story to illustrate how I see the youngsters that I teach and coach--

A young boy was walking down a road one day & saw a little bird. Realizing that it was lost from its mother & its nest, he picked up the bird. Wanting to help the little bird, he thought about putting it in a tree or hiding it under a bush, but he realized something would probably find the bird & eat it or hurt it. He decided to take the little bird home & put it in a pen with his chickens. After several days & weeks had passed, the little bird was looking up at a beautiful eagle soaring high in the sky above his pen. About this time, an old rooster ambled over to him, bumped him with his knee & said, "whatcha doin?" (we all have some "roosters" in our lives.). The old rooster said, "Quit that dreamin'! You won't ever be anything but a chicken like the rest of us!" The sad thing was, the little bird really was an eaglet, and all he needed to do was to spread his wings & try! The analogy to be found in this story is that many of our youngsters are "eaglets", & many never realize it!