TRUE STORY – Basketball Fundamentals – Confidence – Motivation

In college I was a sports instructor and helped run several camps. One particular summer, I had a young girl about 11 years of age attend a fundamental camp. She told me she did not get out of bed till after 12:00 noon everyday.

 As a young adult I thought it usual for such a young child to do that, especially during the summer. I asked the little girl a few questions about why she chose to stay in bed so late. She basically said she did not have a reason to get up and her parents were tired of trying to make her.

With this information I decided to be slightly harder on her than the other kids. This was NOT a punishment but a motivational tactic. We trained the children on basic fundamentals:

• Ball handling
• Shooting
• Passing
• Offense
• Defense
• Footwork
• Rebounding

 The young girl had never played basketball before and her parents sent her to the camp due to her inactivity and sleeping in late. During the camp I had to show tough love through push-ups to maintain her attention and focus.

 The children worked hard but I made it fun for them to learn and retain the instructions given. Providing directives spoken with excitement and joy versus harshness yielded great results. Doing push-ups, up-downs, or sprints let them know although we were having fun I meant business.

 At the beginning of camp, very few of the girls could shoot the ball into the goal, especially the young 11 year old. She did not care if the ball made it into the air period. By the end of camp she could shoot the ball in the goal, dribble, had much better footwork, and she learned how to play basketball. I was really impressed with her improvement.

 However, it was not her improvement that put a lump in my throat and I found myself choking back my tears. The last day of camp she came to me and thanked me for giving her a reason for getting out of bed early. She thanked me for caring and being concerned about her inactivity as well as being attentive. She thanked me for giving her purpose.

 I think I could have left that day and never coached or trained again, but I wanted to do more. I started Above Average Sports once I ended my collegiate and semi-professional/professional career to do just that, reach and positively influence more young lives.

 Coach D

Above Average Sports