Coaching Essay, Research Paper

Coaching

Most people think that watching seven and eight year olds play basketball is boring, but it is one of the most exciting games to watch. I would know because I am a coach at the Boy’s and Girl’s club of Conway. It has been one of the best experiences of my life. Going to the games is also the highlight of my week. I get to teach the kids all about basketball, and this is hard since they do not know anything about the game of basketball. Coaching is something that I have always thought would be very enjoyable.

I have been coached all of my life starting in third grade. I do not remember who my coach was, but I can remember playing. Basketball is one of the best things that one can do when they are young. Basketball is something that I will remember for the rest of my life. It taught me teamwork, how to work with other people, and most of all it taught me how to have a good time without winning. I met many people through playing basketball

when I was little, and I made many good friends with whom I grew up. The first time that I ever played I did not really understand the idea of basketball, but I tried as hard as anyone else on the team. I always looked forward to playing, and it did not matter if we won or lost. Something that the whole team could look forward to was the pizza party at the end of the year. The coaches always made an everlasting impression on me. I can still remember some things that they taught, and they taught me well.Basketball is something that I enjoyed playing every year, and I would not have missed it for anything.

When one of my friends asked me to coach a team for the boy’s club, I thought that he was joking. I have always thought I might want to coach, but I did not want to start my coaching experience with a seven and eight-year old team. Then I decided that this would be a good way to find this out if I would really enjoy coaching. Now it is not a really stressful job or anything, but it gives me a good impression on what coaching could be like. When I went to the first practice, I did not know what to expect, I do not think my kids did ether. Right when I walked through the door my team was running around throwing basketballs everywhere. They were like a herd of wild animals. I was thinking that this was going to be a long season.

Many responsibilities come with coaching. Someone is always

watching a coach. It might be the parent of the kids or the kids themselves. The parents are always watching when the younger ones are playing. Coaches have to be very careful around their players. They have to watch everything that they say because little kids will repeat anything that their coach says. Players are very impressionable at this age. The way that the coach reacts to certain situations is very important. When I am coaching my team, I always stress on having a good time, and my players always seem to enjoy themselves.

Teaching my kids fundamentals is the hardest thing. Trying to get them to dribble the basketball without walking is impossible. The referees do not call traveling unless one of the kids pick up the ball and run with it. I get my players to run up and down the court and dribble the ball in every practice. Nevertheless, they still do not understand that they cannot stop then start dribbling again. Getting them to pay attention is very hard. All of them want to be “Michael Jordan,”but they do not understand that it is the team that wins games not the individual. This is why I am there to teach them. I am trying to teach them a zone defense right now. My kids can do it really well in practice, but when it comes to staying in the right

positions in the game they do not do it vary well. All of the

kids want to go and guard the person with the ball. So it is like five on one. They stay in their positions good at first, but when the second quarter roles around they are all out of their spots. Then I tell them to stay in their areas. They do it for a few seconds, and then the kids are out of their positions again. Teaching a kid all the parts of basketball in thirty minutes a week is hard, but I have a lot of fun trying and the kids seem to enjoy it to. This is the only reason that I am coaching.

Basketball is all about having a good time, and this is what I want my team to remember after the season is over. The hardest thing to teach my team is their positions. I tell all of them what position that I want them to play, but they all want to be the point guard. Only one of them can dribble well enough to play the point, and he does not want to play there. This is something that I tell them every practice, but they only will listen to me for so long. I do not want to run them because I want them to have fun, and running is not fun. I do not know what I am doing yet, but I am still learning. I think that this experience will be good for me, and might even help me decide what I want to do for the rest of my life.