Coach's Corner

In our first couple years of Waves basketball, it has become apparent that the team with the most talented players doesn’t always win. Our group of kids beat teams that had more individually skilled players, but we won through effort, teamwork, and not giving up.

The games we lost were almost always due to our effort dissipating. Players standing around watching shots, not fighting for a loose ball, taking defensive plays off and hoping someone else will step up and take care of business. While we constantly push for a constant, full-team effort, having one or two players take a play off here and there is the difference between coming home with hardware and coming home thinking “what if I would have gone harder one more play.”

Our next season will have a heavy focus on intensity on both ends of the floor. Not simply playing faster, but playing harder with intent. Harder on-ball defense knowing if we get beat our teammate is there to back us up. Everyone fighting for every rebound knowing that one big rebound can change the outcome of a game. Moving with purpose on offense to get our teammates smart, open shots. We scratched the surface last season of what this team can do on defense. Next season is going to crank up and amplify what we built as a foundation.

As we look forward to the next season (which is a little silly since our season just ended, but I like to be prepared) I will be putting in a regimen that will get our players in the best position to win games. The first thing our players must get engrained in their minds is that you play like you practice. If you give half-effort in practice, it won’t magically show up at game time. Their young bodies and minds must be trained to go game-speed in practice so that come game time, it is nothing new for them.

The season is around six months away, but it will be here before we know it and we will be back in the gym together in no time. I am already studying and reading coaching books to improve my coaching style and knowledge. If our players are working their tails off to improve, then I should be as well. I will keep working so that I can help these boys turn this team into a championship team. We will make it happen TOGETHER.

If you asked me five years ago when I first started coaching what makes a good coach, I probably would have shown you my basketball journal full of set plays, defensive schemes, notes about teams we play, inbound play ideas, and I would annoyingly gush about our multiple undefeated Waukee Park and Rec seasons where games were akin to herding cats. Since joining the Waves, I've come to realize that the X’s and O’s are actually the smallest part of the job; although I still lose sleep pondering plays and practice plans. While winning is fun for everyone involved, it’s much more fulfilling watching the players become friends, getting to know them and their parents, and helping the boys learn life lessons to take with them off the court.

These days, youth sports are absolutely bonkers; high-pressure environments, loud facilities, sometimes crappy facilities, elite competition, parents yelling at their kid that they swear is going D1... If we can wade through the mess together, it becomes a classroom not just for basketball, but for life.

The adventure so far for the Waves has been a tale of starting at the bottom and working our way up with hard work, determination, and learning to be a team. We can’t win every game, every kid can’t score the most points, not every kid is going to be an all-star, but at the end of the day, if a kid can say they gave it all they had and they enjoyed the moment, then that is a win no matter what the final score was.

Years from now, the boys won’t remember how they did in this tournament or how they did in that season game. What they will remember is having a good time with their friends and getting a chance to compete in the amazing sport of basketball. Not every kid gets the chance to play basketball so teaching the players to make the most of every opportunity is crucial.

My fondest memories of basketball come from my traveling basketball team when I was a wee lad and I hope I can give our players many memories to look back on as they get older. I am so fortunate that parents let me teach and coach their kids and I can’t wait to see what the future brings for this team.