The Kee to Coaching: The Reasons Why I Coach
Good afternoon! I hope that all is well with you guys. Summer is officially over, and we are now into the season of Fall. As September comes to a close, we inch closer and closer to October 15th, the start of basketball season! The temperature has slightly decreased and with that, the common cold has been passed around to a few members of our basketball family. Unfortunately, this year I was unable to avoid the germs, and I did in fact catch a minor cold. I recently bought a Fitbit, and have really gotten into tracking my daily amount of steps. This week is a minor setback for me, but I'll have to work hard to double my amount of steps next week!
With an additional two, police-involved shootings surfacing this week, and with the Colin Kaepernick, National Anthem protest, gaining steam, it seems that racial tensions are very high. I felt that it was a great opportunity to reflect on the impact of race and class in my life. The first thing that I thought to do was analyze the dynamic of the basketball team I coach at Keuka College. One of the things that I love about working at Keuka, is just how diverse our student-body is. We have students from all different backgrounds and walks of life. We have small-town kids, students from the inner-city, students, who are poor, and students who come from a lot of money. We have students from different ethnic backgrounds, speak different languages, and each individual has things in their past that shape their current outlook on other groups of people.
Our basketball team is a great representation of diversity. We have athletes from all different types of financial, racial, and religious backgrounds. It always amazes me to see how all of those differences are put aside, and how all members of our team unite for a common goal. Even with a group of primarily freshmen and sophomores, our group is close and they reflect many of the positives of playing on a sport's team. When we hit the floor to compete in our first game on November 15th, all twenty of us, players, coaches, and managers, will be representing Keuka College. All twenty of us will put aside personal biases, and will unite with the goal of doing our individual best, in order to put ourselves in position to win a game. This act of selflessness, from all members of our team, is one of the reasons that I truly love my job.
Every person decides to get into their career for a variety of different reasons. Initially, what brought me to coaching was a desire to make an impact in the lives of young adults, and to win! Not too many things are more enjoyable than getting the opportunity to compete on a daily basis and possibly win a basketball game. As I've grown as a person, and as I've grown in this profession, I've also gotten to appreciate all of the other joys that come along with with working with young adults. As a coach, and as a member of a team, it is good to see that humans, regardless of their differences, can work together and form a loving friendship and bond with one another. Nothing makes me happier than seeing our guys cheer for one another and truly encourage their success. Many sports teams operate the same way across the country. I just really wish we could all come together, as citizens of this country, and come up with a solution and goal, in order to promote unity, peace and understanding of others. Maybe if more of us followed the model set by many successful sports' teams, maybe we could come up with a plan to overcome our differences and work together.
