I recently decided I was going to coach 11-12 year old recreation league basketball with my friends Ryan and Sean. The experience began with our going to tryouts, watching the youngsters play, and jotting down notes on every player, feverishly so since we only had one hour to assess 100-plus children and their attributes.

Though I’m not being paid, and it has no impact on anything else I do such as school or applying to college, I found myself going through all the notes I had on the children and their past performances in previous years. I did this non-stop and actually went over the papers while I was in school. It enthralled me deciding which players I would target, which round I would predict them to go in, developing different lineups in which I would draft, and which player would go well with which player.

A week later we had the draft with all the coaches. This was the most exciting part as I had been studying for a week for this night. Every round we had to see who was still on the board, and which players we wanted. After the draft I felt we had done a good job and had drafted players we liked.

We called all the children and told them when our first practice was. That first night was a new experience. When I first walked into the gym it was about 10 minutes before our practice started and the previous one was still going on. More kids trickled into the gym, most of them were quiet and “acting” shy, while some talked a little to other kids. One mother came up to me and asked me if I was the coach. I said “yes” and she called her kid over to me to introduce him. I shook his hand and he told me his name.

“Hey, my name is Jeffery, I’m not very good at shooting but I’m really good at defense. One practice I was guarding my friend before practice and he was just dribbling around and I was wherever he was and I kept knocking the ball out of his hands and he was like ‘whoa you’re like a monkey on defense you’re always on the ball’ and I was like yea I know I had a lot of sugar before practice, I really like sugar I had a lot of sugar before I came to practice today…”

He talked for about another minute without letting me say a word. I just stood there smiling, trying to hold back my laughter. I let him finish and called all the kids together. We made them each say their names and something they liked to introduce themselves.

“My name is Thomas and I like Football.”

“My name is Alex and I like video games.”

The other players introduced themselves and we got to the last player

“Um, my name is Jeffery, and I, uh, like sugar.” I couldn’t help but laugh. I’ll tell you what, though, that kid never gets tired on defense; he gives 100 percent 100 percent of the time.

There were already a couple kids who knew each other and began talking which helped crack the ice and soon they were all talking. After a few practices and games we got to know the kids and learned their strengths and weaknesses.

One kid, whose name is Joey, is the smallest kid on the team. His favorite sport is baseball and he actually knew me from watching the George Mason baseball team play. He remembered me because I played the same position as he did. He’s a pretty good player, but lacks confidence. When no pressure is put on him he can make a high percentage of his shots. But, in the games he never takes the shots. Ryan and I pulled him aside one practice and asked him why he doesn’t shoot more in the games.

“I get too nervous, I’m so much shorter than everyone else and I’m afraid of getting blocked.” I tell him that when I was younger, I was always the shortest player on every team I played on, but that didn’t stop me. He couldn’t believe I was always the smallest and asked me what I did and how I played.

“You just gotta believe in your own ability and not worry about anything else,” I said.  He nodded his head, smiled, and walked back into the practice. Joey now averages about eight points a game.

There’s one kid who is, let’s say, a little on the heavy side and rather unathletic. But boy does this kid have a mouth. He’s got that loud, obnoxious voice that teeters on the verge of being hilarious and annoying. He talks a lot of trash and we have to make him stop when he says it to other kids, but when he says it to us coaches, we usually let him continue because it’s just funny and it makes practice fun.

“Hey dee da dee. Guess what I did today?” said Calvin

“What’s that” I said.

“I ran around my house three times!”

“Ha ha, What for?” I said as I began to crack up at the confusing remark

“I’m trying to lose weight, but by my third lap I was like screw this, I’d rather watch TV.” As he walked away all I could do was laugh. He came back two seconds later

“Wanna fight? I’ll roll you down that hill outside,” he said.  I laughed again and told him to concentrate on practice. The team goofball always knows how to entertain

The best player on the team is probably Thomas and he knows it. He makes good passes and shoots well, but sometimes the other players on the team just can’t keep up with him, and they don’t play as well, and he gets mad at them. One practice I took Thomas aside and talked to him. I told him he’s a great player, but the only way we can win is if he tries helping everyone else around him. I told him we needed him to be more of a leader so that others will want to play with him. The next practice I saw him helping one of his teammates practice doing left-handed lay-ups.

We have another player named Ralphy who’s about 4-foot nothing and is also on the “heavy” side. My fellow coach Ryan was on a college visit during one game and missed a game. Ralphy came into the next practice and made a beeline for Ryan.

“Hey, Ryan you missed it, I had a great game,” said Ralphy.

“O yea? What’d you do?” Ryan asked.

“Well, I had one basket, TWO rebounds, and one long pass.” Ryan smirked and told him good job. Ralphy may not be the greatest player, but he has a lot of heart.

At times these young players can be out of control. It’s strange to think I was in their very same shoes only five years ago. All of a sudden we’re the adults, and we teach them how to play. We come to practice everyday with the sack of basketballs and an itinerary of what we are going to do.

The times when the players start getting out of control we have to yell at them so they get it together. I think the players see us as people that are just like them only a little older, so they feel more comfortable around us than they would around adult coaches. Sometimes they get a little too comfortable and we have to remind them who’s in charge. The easiest way to do that is by threatening them with running.

“Alright, next person to talk is running 15 sprints up and down the court.” That gets them quiet pretty fast.

We recently lost a game 57-55 in overtime. The kids had fought hard all game and had lost on a last second shot. Will, Thomas, Jeffery, Joey, and Calvin, the five players on the court, dropped to the floor dripping in sweat, their hands interlocked on their heads while the other team jumped in excitement all around them. Their eyes, along with those of Matt, Ralphy, Scott, Kyle, and Alex all turned red and watered up. The loss crushed them. We called them all into a huddle and talked about the game. We finished and they all put their hands in the middle when I heard a voice. It was Will’s.

"Hey guys let’s win it next time.” He smiled and so did everyone else.

Sometimes I wonder if I was like this when I was younger. I’m finally seeing the other side of being an authoritative figure, one that has responsibilities. It seemed like when my friends and I were that age we felt much older than that. I also remember us feeling like we could do anything. It seems like it was so long ago and just yesterday at the same time.