#teachermyth challenge

Each week I try to attend Aaron Hogan's #teachermyth chat. It is uplifting and fun to meet weekly with my twitter friends. Currently the topic is around reflection and this week he has challenged us to talk about something we learned this week and write about it and share so here goes.

Basketball Observations

I am on the coaching staff of our high school basketball team. I mostly fun little errands and sit and visit with the kids while on the bench and make sure they are doing ok. I don't know much about basketball and last week a player even said, "I won't disagree you don't know anything about it but at least you don't act like you do." LOL I seriously just laughed. Great moment of honesty and something we could laugh about. But now let's get to the learning.

So currently I think we are 0-7 this season. Last season our team was built on a very strong group of grade 12 students who went on to win the Zone championship two years in a row. This year we are young, we have had different set backs but the boys keep playing the boys keep smiling...most of the time.

I saw a tweet the other day that said

As a coach this comment from @Saints head coach Sean Payton rings so very true, “Where you have a problem is when you feel like your expectations for a player exceed his own.” This is the dbl challenge, 1st see the potential in others 2nd help them see it.

My Dad a very seasoned coach tweeted this out and it struck me in what he added that the challenge is to see the potential and then help them see it. If I could wave a magic wand and let this young team know the potential I see in them and have them believe it I would. While I am sure they appreciate my words they also know I know very little about basketball so my assurances that they are great and that we are getting better every week might be falling on deaf ears.

But this is what I have learned.

I need to keep letting them know that I see their potential until they see it in themselves. We don't give up on helping our students or in this case our players see their potential. I am honoured to get to sit with the Magrath Zeniths every week because they are hard workers that despite adversity are keeping their heads up. Like a forging fire we will come out stronger and if these great kids realize their potential while we are at it then the struggle is more than worth it.

Oh I also learned a couple plays...kind of. That is a pretty impressive feat.