Coaching Basketball

(This is a post written by Ja'Nae`.) As many of you know, I have accepted a position as a head women's coach of a local basketball academy. I am very excited about this opportunity as this is a dream job. Getting paid a good salary for something that I love. (Luckily I have a sugamama and can trly say that the money is good.) I am in charge of the women's program, but also will expand the academy to different areas of London and add other sports. Having a passion for sports is a a great advantage, but not knowing how things really work in London is a disadvantage. But with the right support system, I really think that this is something that can grow. Currently the program is in West London and we want to expand to north, south, and eastern parts of London. The organization does more than just basketball, but they run a football (soccer) program and have one of the best dance teams in the UK. So, I may have to learn a few moves from their dance team or teach them a few things. You know how we do it in Iowa!!! I attended my first set of basketball games over the weekend. All I can say is that it is quite different than the states. First, there were no signs to let people know where they gym is located. No admission! No concessions, so I couldn't get that hot dog or pretzel that I was craving. The games were to start at 11 am. I walk in and see three spectators in the stands, the scorekeepers, a ref, and a couple coaches. The team that I going to be coaching was playing at 11am, and they were no where to be found. Oh wait, the coach and managers were there shooting around. I thought that maybe the game didn't start until 11:30. 11:10 - 3 players from my team show up and 0 from the team we're playing. Hmmm. What is going on. I thought I would be walking in to a gym with two teams that were warming up properly. 11:15. - Now we have 8 players from the team and the opposing team only has 2. Obviously, there is no sense of time here in London. I knew that it was bad, but not this bad. Especially when it comes to sporting events, one should stick to the schedule. 11:20, at this point I am thinking that the other team has to forfeit since only two of their players have showed up. I see the coach of the opposing team, and he doesn't seem to are that he only has two players. 11:30 - We finally have enough players to start the game. Holy buckets!!! I sat and watched 5 more games of basketball and it was great. By the last one I started to get hungry and tired, but it was a such a close game that I couldn't leave. As I sat through the games, I noticed a few rule differences. The biggest rule difference is the existence of a shot clock. These kids are high school age and the level of play is similar to freshman basketball, with the exception of one team. I couldn't believe they have a shot clock and it's only 24 seconds. I believe they only get 8 seconds to cross half court or else it is a violation. No one sets screens or calls plays all that often. It was a track meet. Don't even get me started on the refs. They are horrible. I don't know how many times I saw a kid travel or get fouled. They were so horrible that two fights broke out! The first fight was a girls game. Player A's team had rebounded the ball and they headed down the court. The player guarding Player A was walking back to play defense (poor attitude), we'll call her Player B. Well Player B came up from behind and tried to get the ball back from Player A, but failed. I guess Player A said something to Player B which made Player B a bit upset and got in Player A's face. Player A kinda stepped up, then stepped back down and maybe said something else. Next thing I see is Player B reaching out to grab Player A's hair and the fists are out. Each threw about 2-3 punches before someone broke it up. This happened during the final seconds of the game. Fight #2. Well, this wasn't really a fight but morelike an outburst by the coach. Yes, I said coach. I am not sure what happened, but a timeout was called and I see the coach trying to rush the bench of the other team. I thought, 'Oh, my!'. The refs and his players tried to calm him down but he started yelling and trying to get his 'posse' to stop holding him back. Then he did something reminded me of how some 3 year olds will act when they are upset. As his friends were holding him, they mostly had him by his jacket, he pulled one of those maneuvers where you simply slide out of the jacket and free yourself. Well, that's what he did. I don't know if I did a very good job describing it, but it really reminded me of a 3 year old. One of the bigger refs took him outside to have a chat with him. I thought for sure that he would be kicked out and not allowed back in. I was wrong. 10 minutes later he comes strutting back in and trying to get the crowd hyped up like he is an all star now. He sits on his bench, but doesn't coach or say much. At this point his team is losing. The game was so very close and unfortunately, his team ended up winning by one point. There were so many emotions that I thought they won the NCAAs. This wasn't a tournament at all. Just a game, but it was so much more to these boys because one of them was crying. I chuckled to myself and left the gym. The best team that I saw was Peckham. The way they play reminded me of East. Very, very athletic with a couple having the potential to play at University (College) in the States. They were very fun to watch, but I can't say the same about playing them. It is only April, and I feel like I have so much to do before the season starts. I found a couple players that I would like to recruit and of course, it is entirely up to them whether or not they want to try out. The team has about 7 players already and two additional girls are intested in playing. If I can have a team of 10 players, I will be happy. It's only the first year and these things take time. Ideally I'd like to have 20 players try out for the team. We'll see.................