"Why I Coach..."

As I lay awake last night, disappointed and questioning our loss, our record, our team and their inability to be enthusiastic, I continued to reflect on one thaught...Why do I coach?

There are many different reasons people take on the great committment of coaching our young athletes. Some might say they do it because they love the sport. If that was the case for me, I would be sharing my love for the sport with my friends and former teammates every Tuesday evening, playing pick-up at our local rec center. I play every day at lunch time because I love the sport, but I coach basketball because it's my passion. Everybody is passionate about something in life, whether it's hunting, fly fishing or playing golf. For me, my passion is coaching basketball. I love to read about it, write about it, watch videos about it and talk about it.

My passion for coaching basketball started when I became the point guard for Windber and then later selected as my team's co-captain during my senior year. As a point guard at Windber, expectations and responsibilities were high demanding. I had to become the floor general, the communicator, the extension of the coach...I had to become a leader on and off the floor for my teammates. When something broke down or was not communicated on or off the floor, it was my fault. This was a honor that I took very seriously, and with the coaching and teaching from my coaches, I learned to become passionate about leading others which eventually turned into a passion for coaching young athletes. Following my playing days, I was offered my first volunteer position as an assistant junior high coach. Even as a volunteer, with my commitment being limited to holiday breaks and weekends, it was something that I took very seriously and became very passionate about. I began to listen to coaches post game news conferences, read books, watch videos and even analyze plays while watching college basketball games. For me, I no longer sat down to watch a college or high school basketball game for pure enjoyment, my enjoyment came from analyzing and picking up plays, strategies and philosophies from other coaches.

Following graduation from college, I was unsure about alot of things...job, money, paying bills, etc. But I was sure of one thing, which was that I wanted to get into coaching basketball. It was something that was taught to me by my father, who also was a long time coach, it was called taking the knowledge that you have and opportunities that you experienced and paying it forward. I will never forget one of the last conversations my father and I had before he passed away, as I remember it like yesterday. We were at a local high school football game, suprisingly he didnt have any football games to referee himself that night, so we decided to take in a local game between two rivalries. As we stood along side the field watching the game, Lance Loya, who is now the head men's coach at Mount Aloysius College, came to me and offered me an assistant varsity coach position at Berlin High School. Immediately I began to smile. Here I was a young recent college grad, in search of an opportunity to get into coaching. After our conversation I turned to my dad to explain what had just been offered to me with excitement. However, an important lesson was about to be taught to me. My father, who cared for Windber athletics as much as he cared for his family and friends, spoke in his soft gently voice of concern..."what has Berlin basketball ever done for you?" At first I didnt understand, why is he not supporting me with this, why is he not excited for me? He later explained on the drive home from the game that he felt I needed to look for an opportunity to coach basketball at Windber, where lessons in pride, commitment, teamwork and hardwork were taught to me. It then hit me...I want to coach because I want the kids from Windber to experience the same things that I was able to experience, the memories, the summer workouts, the pre-season open gyms, the Rotary Tournaments, the district playoffs, the state playoffs, the proud community support, all the great things about being apart of such a great tradition, all the great things about being a WINDBER BASKETBALL PLAYER!

Not long after that important discussion with my father, he unexpectedly passed away. This also happened to be the same time that I was offered my first coaching position at Windber. Saddened by the loss of my father, I would later find out that my father knew about the position at Windber even before I did. This is another reason why I have such a passion to coach. One of the final lessons taught to me by my father turned out to be the last thing that my father would know me as doing...sharing my experiences and paying my lessons and knowledge learned forward so that others can experience the same.

As I have learned through my experiences through the passed 6 years in coaching, there are many more important reasons for my passion for coaching. One of the these reasons is to watch young athletes grow in many ways, grow athletically, personally, academically and grow in character. As a coach one the most rewarding things for me is watching an individual or group of individuals reach their potential. So, as we are faced with adversity and times of unsureness and weakness, we have to remember that life is about choices. We cannot control the past, we cannot control our previous losses, we cannont control our previous mistakes, we cannot control our missed opportunities. We can, however, choose our attitude, choose our energy, choose our work ethic, choose our commitment, choose to learn, choose to take on the opportunities that present themselves with enthusiasm and choose to make best of what is available. I choose to continue to coach with passion, teach lessons that I have learned and push athletes towards reaching their potential, even if that potential is not reached until the final buzzer sounds.