January 22, 2012

• Take 7.

  The longest take 7. Ever. I won't be hurt if you don't read it/I'd be shocked if people actually read these anyway.

  Sunday - VIP filming, Skyped Lisa, Anna's House
  Monday - Game
  Tuesday - Morning practice, lllllloooooong day, Betsy's for dinner and BSF
  Wednesday - Dinner with Plumley,relaxing at home
  Thursday - lunch with mom and Lydia at Pizza Hut, practice
  Friday - game
  Saturday - Practice, chilled at home 

  1. I spent another Sunday filming VIP and think next Sunday, I'll actually spend in church actually attending. We'll see though. I didn't stay for Sunday School and headed home to Skype with Lisa. Our schedules are completely opposite it feels, so that just happened to work out as I didn't go to Sunday school. Otherwise I'd be getting home by the time she heads off to church, she gets back by the time I head back to church. It was good to chat with her - pretty sure that was the first time we really had a chance to chat since she had been back. After church, we headed back to Anna's house, grabbed some food and watched some Golden Globe awards. 

  2. Tuesday I left work around 4 and mom, Lydia and I headed to the middle of nowhere for my game. I wasn't hungry at 4 but around 5, I could feel myself getting grumpier and irrated because I was hungry. Does that happen to everyone? Sometimes I just get so hungry that my mood is shot. Anyway, we took a detour to find some food. And honestly, I'm surprised I'm not a fat lard with how awful my eating habits have been since basketball started. Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly skinnier but it could be worse. Most nights, I'm lucky to get dinner by 8 or 9. Away games all with the exception of this one, I eat still around 8 but it's a walking taco or hot dog. Super filling and healthy. Or not. Then this one, I'm scarfing down a burger and fries so I'm done before arriving at the game. Sacrifice. haha, maybe. 

  So the game. Worse half of basketball I've ever seen. Ever. Not because of lack of coaching or lack of practicing. Lack of care, effort and dare I say, respect for themselves. U-G-L-Y. At half time, the only thing I could think to do was something a coach of mine did to us in HS. He came in at half time and drew a basketball on the board and asked us if we knew what it was. It made a HUGE impact on me as a player and still holds strong in my mind. I did that. Asked some more questions. Told them they were doing this to themselves. I went on some tangent about how HS basketball is the one thing I miss about HS. I've found, I can really say and lecture on anything I want to and they just listen. I'm not a yeller, so it's weird for me to raise my voice with them but it was the only thing that would go through. For 9 and a half minutes out of the 10 I get for halftime, they got to listen to me. 

  Last story of half time. The devotions that were given during pre-game was about 2 frogs in a cup of milk fighting to get out. 1 frog gave up and died. The other frog kept fighting, so much so it turned the milk into butter and lived. I've heard this devotion. Maybe not with frogs but it doesn't matter. Anyway, my assistant has a clip board and writes stuff down during the game for future reference such as half time. I looked down and read, "you guys turned into the dying frog" and completely lost it. I just wasn't expecting that - I couldn't recuperate for a couple seconds and they simply looked at me unsure if I was ok. Seriously, being a coach really is fun. 

  The second half was a different basketball team and it's a good thing. We played well, it's too bad the hole we built for ourselves was just too big to get of.

  3a. I didn't sleep well Monday night which is unfortunate because of how early Tuesday starts. Over the past month-ish I really just haven't been feeling great. The same kind of pains I felt in college, which have been on and off since but I've really learned to just live with and overlook. But I woke up Tuesday morning in serious pain which only rarely happens. I kind of thought my period was coming but that wouldn't have really made sense. I really didn't have anything to do but lay there in serious pain awaiting for it to go away. Eventually it did but wasn't enjoyable while it lasted. That being said, when I keel over and die for no reason that's probably part of the reason. Morning practice went well. Instead of actually practicing - I decided to bring them in a classroom and analyze the game a bit. I had each of them write down who they think really hustled and gave their all during the game. I had 3 in mind and 4 came up as we went around the room. I told them that's 4 of the 5 starters for Friday's game.  2 of the girls don't normally start and in my opinion, they've earned a starting position on my team. The best part of it was I don't look like the "bad" guy because the team chose them, they just didn't know they were. The 2nd thing I had them write down was for the person sitting behind them. 1 thing they needed to work on and 1 thing they did well in the game. We talked through there answers. I didn't tell them beforehand that they'd be sharing and I wanted them to write it down, so they would be ready and wouldn't be switching up answers. It went surprisingly well. I let them go and kept my captains behind. I've decided to let them plan practice on Thursday. They play an integral part of the team and I'm not sure they understand that. I remember being a captain on my HS team - that just meant shaking hands with the refs, which I told them. And I told them I want being a captain on this team to mean more and that they set the tempo more than they think. So we'll see how that goes on Thursday.

  3b. Sorry Tuesday was a long day and I really want to share this funny story. Dad switched cars with me mid-morning in a hurry. "I have to take some Amish people to Chicago." haha...um, obvi typical thing to say and wanted my car. AND dad sends me this picture. 

  Sorry it's sideways but I am not spending the time messing with it.

   

  Of course dad would be creepin' on the Amish as they choose their candy. But the kicker was I really knew no details about this trip to Chicago and information kept coming in throughout the day - it was just funny. I didn't know how many or why. Simply that he needed to drive "them" to Chicago. Please picture this and try not to laugh,  my father with his Indiana Jones hat driving 4 Amish and a baby to Chicago in my 2012 unmanly light blue Sonata that only holds 5 people. 

  So the Amish that we know from up at our hunting propert, had people visiting. A girl friend of one of the Amish boys we know but she (the gf can't visit alone, that'd be against all Amish rules) - so she had to bring people to come visit with her. I was already dying. First thought going through my mind. Umm, how the heck did they meet in the first place? Anyway, the people we know rented a van to drive down to G-Rap where the gf and visitors were going to take the train back home, wherever that is. But the van kept breaking down (umm, it's only a 40ish minute drive from the hunting property to G-Rap, talk about getting taken advantage of with the van you rented because you're Amish. FUNNY but wrong.) Somehow they got it to Wynalda. Come in and ask for Rob because they know he owns Wynalda. Rob calls dad out of a meeting he is in and has them drive them to Chicago. Dad's first question. Is there a horse and buggy out there? haha. Legit question. So now dad is suckered into driving the gf and vistors to Chicago because there isn't another train out of G-Rap. The people we know from hunting didn't go with him to Chicago and the Amish boyfriend (15 years old or so) takes dad aside and tells him he better drive safely. Seriously, this is too rich to make up but it gets better. So they (4 adults plus dad) pile into my car, which was pretty low of gas. They stop at the gas station and dad discovers there is a baby with them. HAHA. He described it as "you know they have a lot of layers and such, so the kid was wrapped up and I didn't notice until we got into the gas station." Then he goes on about how long they took in the gas station. Anytime we've ever taken them anywhere, Meijer, Lowes they take hours. Dad said they were in the bathroom for 30 minutes and then looking through the gas station was another 10-15 minutes. haha, just what he wanted to be doing. I asked how he got the photo. "Oh I just pretended I was on my phone (he made the motion of holding it up to his ear) and took the picture." He said everyone was giving him awful looks. haha, can you imagine seeing him driving 4 Amish women and a baby to Chicago? OH and he said they were freaked out by the gps voice and the heated seats! FUNNY. Oh to be a fly in THAT car. And I'm convinced the interior of my car smells funny now. I think it'll get a good febreezing later on. I think that's it...blanks filled in, I was dyyyyyyying when we were talking. 

   3c. Dinner at Betsy's was actually pretty good - I was a bit hesitant after our last one on one but this went much better. And BSF was great. It was only Heather (the leader) and one other girl, plus me. 2 out of 14 attendees. Heather kind of suggested we join another group and we both said we didn't want to. It was a GREAT discussion - we all shared on each question, including Heather which we normally don't hear from. I seriously enjoyed 1 Thess. and the correlation between Paul's passion/care/love/investing of people and how easily it's relatable to coaching (which you can see in my previous post if you read that). After BSF, I headed home 1. because I was tired 2. I didn't really want to drive the truck late at night as the weather was supposedly getting worse. Getting into bed was FABULOUS. It's more of a falling but the slight getting was hard enough. Pathetic I know. I was swamped and slept great. Drool and everything. Gross but good.

  4. Wednesday I hit up dinner with Rachael. It had been awhile since I had heard or seen from her so it was about time to  check in. It's never a dull moment that's for sure. God really challenges me with how much listening to how much talking I should be doing. A lot of the time is spent listening and every-so-often, I try to lend what advice I can. After a couple hours, I headed home, chatted with Anna via text, read some and headed to bed a little earlier than normal. 

  5. Thursday I met mom and Lydia for lunch which isn't normal but Lydia had a snow day and they wanted to get out of the house. After work, I went to practice. A practice I let my captains run. They did a pretty good job and I think I will make it a weekly thing to give them a practice to run. I want them to be more assertive on the court during games and I think being assertive in practices will encourage that. We'll see. Highlight of this practice, Chanin raises her hand saying "Coach, Coach, I have something to say." She says it in such an innocent child like way. I have to stop myself from smiling while listening. "Yes Chanin." "I'm ready to start in games." I couldn't help but smiling about. Every GAME until that moment, she had proclaimed before the game, she doesn't want to start because it makes her nervous. Seriously, I love coaching. It's rarely ever a dull moment. Finally heading home around 7:30 and roll into the driveway looking forward to heating up my leftover pizza and just relaxing a bit. Open the fridge. No pizza. You know that feeling of craving something and then the feeling of discovering it's gone. Nothing after that sounds appetizing. It was on the lines of funny and just wanting to cry cause I wanted my pizza I was looking forward to...you know, you're average satire. Dad kind of apologized. haha. The rest of the night was spent reading and getting ready for the basketball game. 

  6. Friday we had a game. I normally have to leave early on Fridays from work and this one was just the same but instead of going home for my lunch break and coming back to work an hour, I worked through lunch and headed home around 1 which gave me some prep time. We lost again. We weren't hitting our shots at all and they were just a much faster paced team then us. Near the end of the game, one of my players noticed that an old coach was at the game - he just happened to be the basketball coach I quite respected my sophomore and junior year. I went to say hi to him after the game, thinking he was there to see us. I went up, said hi and was quickly blown off for the reason he was there. Scouting a girl on the team we just played. I probably shouldn't take that personal but honestly I kind of did. During the Varsity team, I usually sit by myself. I don't want to intrude on the team like they have to sit by me and behave or something. Last away game that happened, they felt bad - so this time, they came and sat by me. We had a good time, talking and joking around. At the end of the game, one of my players stood up and proclaimed, "that was fun" obviously referring to sitting next to me. I laughed and made a comment like you sound surprised that I'm not boring. haha. After the game around 9:30ish, we load the bus with the few that ride and 5 minutes down the road we stop....to eat. Seriously? The Varsity coach rarely rides the bus and the JV coach does, thankfully. We both kind of laughed like yes this is what we want to be doing now. It wasn't until about 11:15 that I rolled into the driveway and hit the hay. 

  7. By Saturday morning, I'm pretty tired from the week. I wish I could figure out a way to make my mind go to sleep before game days and after them. It just keeps going and going. Well, Friday after the game one of my girls asked if I'd come in early and work with her. Obviously as a coach that is music to your ear but not to your sleep life. This girl is consistently early to practice and is shooting around constantly. So I knew her wanting to come early meant she'd be early to be early, which meant I had to be earlier than her early. It was good to work with her and I appreciated her dedication. This practice was only guards and we worked on a lot of shooting and dribbling. It was nice to give some more specific attention to people. By the time I get home, talk to mom, and such. I'm just exhausted. I've come up with a good mid-morning Saturday routine. Sit on the couch, watch some tv, play some Temple Run around 12:30 shower, then start picking up the disaster area that becomes my room, blow dry, straighten hair and at that point, I'm pretty energized again for whatever the night may hold. My Saturday night consisted of hanging at home. Nothing too exciting or worth mentioning. I would have much rather been hanging out - oh well. 

  • 10:25 pm
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