Bang, Zoom!

Ralph was a big yeller, always yelling at everyone and anyone. After doing a lot of thinking about my own yelling during games, I resolved yesterday to try coaching a basketball game with no yelling or screaming at all.

It was awkward and felt odd to be honest. I guess I'm just one of those guys. But, I did it and I survived the experience. And the odd thing, is that the more I think about it as I write this post, the more I realize that it's the right thing to do.

The girls I'm coaching range from 9-12 years old (4-6th grade, 2 different teams) and while they need lots and lots of coaching and lots and lots of encouragement, they simply don't need it at extreme volumes while they play the actual game.

I am slowly starting to remember how confusing and fast it was to play basketball as a 10 year old; the last thing these girls need is me yelling and screaming at them. It's about time eh?

Meanwhile, the girls played much better tonight. The basics are there but we need more practice time that we just aren't going to find. Two of our smaller girls played extremely well, one getting a basket and the other coming up with at least 2 rebounds and one terrific defensive stop. It's pretty much the best feeling to see those weaker players start to slowly but surely improve over the course of the season.