FUNdamentals

Please pardon the image of our gun wielding, alcohol slurping friend. If you’ve seen the movie “Varsity Blues” you probably already know that Billy Bob wasn’t in the best mental state as he sit on the tailgate of his pickup truck in the scene above, but he still provided a healthy lesson. Those trophies behind him were awards he had gathered throughout his youth football “career”. At one point he asks his quarterback and friend, Mox, if he remembers winning the championship as nine year olds. Mox said “yea, it was fun”, but Billy Bob didn’t agree. “No it wasn’t. I remember gettin’ yelled at.” Then he proceeds to chuck the trophy into the grass and blow it apart with that shotgun.

You know I’ve probably watched this movie at least ten times and for whatever reason this has always been one of its most fascinating scenes. Yet, I’m not sure I’ve ever kept it in mind throughout the many practices and games I have coached in youth sports. As a matter of fact I may have even forgotten all about it until recently I experienced something that made me remember. I want to tell you about this experience so if you don’t mind, please join me for a quick “mound visit”.

Last weekend our family traveled to Gallipolis, Ohio to participate in the “Hoops Project”. It was about 95 degrees and on the pavement basketball courts it felt about 105. Over the course of two days I watched hundreds of kids (and adults) in separate age divisions compete for the right to “Sign the Wall” which is a massive white board that is signed with dry erase markers by tournament winners (and winners of the infamous “potty bowl” game which I think is a great addition to the event).

There were some extremely talented athletes there and there were some very good teams, but one team in particular caught my eye. They were the “Net Rippers” and I noticed them for a few reasons. One, my youngest son played on the team. Two, they had an absolute miserable weekend in terms of statistical success. Three, it’s reason three that I really want to share with you.

It was late on the second day of the event and the “Net Rippers” were already 0-2 for the tournament. They were actually playing for the rights to call themselves the winner of the “Potty Bowl”. At the last minute, the Front Office made a drastic change. They replaced their head coach (who actually did a fantastic job up to this point regardless of the record) with a group of teenagers. Two of the teenagers had younger brothers on the team, one of them was my older son. So we had a group of young friends coaching a group of younger friends. A disaster in the making.

And what a disaster it was. By the end of the first half the “Net Rippers” were down by more than 10. The other team was bigger and faster and it looked like they had played together much longer. The “Net Rippers” were able to score here and there but not nearly enough to really stay in the game. It was hot (as I mentioned) and the kids looked absolutely exhausted with sweat drenching each of their shirts (and maybe a little added water for effect).

But that’s where things get interesting. Ya see, this team didn’t act like they were tired. They didn’t act like they were struggling. They didn’t even act like they were losing. As a matter of fact by the time the last few minutes of the game came around they acted as if they were winning by 20, but they weren’t. They were actually losing by 20. Yet they were laughing, they were hustling, and they were listening. All because their coach(es) were letting them play without criticizing them and without yelling at them. Not to say the older guys weren’t coaching; they were. They just weren’t coaching like it meant more to them than it did to their players. They were coaching as if the reason the game was being played was so that the players could have fun.

As I watched this play out before me. As I watched kids laugh uncontrollably, both the players and the coaches, my mind began to wonder back to all my experiences as a coach and I was almost consumed by this state of awe as I considered that these teenagers might be coaching a better game than I ever have in my life. It was their first time. Their first attempt. And they were better!! They were better because to them it was about having fun.

Somewhere in-between my thoughts I remembered our friends Billy Bob and Mox. I remembered Billy Bob explaining “We were just little kids Mox. Just little kids. It’s like nothin’ was never good enough!” Then a chilling conviction crept into my mind as I envisioned my own boys on that back of that pickup truck.

Fundamentals are so important to success in sports. If you’re not good doing the small things, the basic things, you’re probably not going to be very good at the game you’re playing. I’ve been coaching youth sports (primarily baseball) for over twenty years and I’ve studied and re-studied the fundamentals of fielding and hitting and throwing, but there’s a fundamental I haven’t spent nearly enough time on. That’s the fundamental of fun!

Just over the last several years I have slowly (and painfully) come to the conclusion that one of the greatest gifts we can give our youth athletes is the encouragement for them to have fun. I can hear people asking me “What about high school?”, “What about college?”, “We need to prepare our kids for better competition!” I hear you and I understand you, but I would like to make one simple point that I believe without a shadow of doubt.

If we teach our kids to have fun in sports, if we teach them to love the game that love will correlate to passion and that passion will correlate to work ethic and those things above all are what drives us to be the best we can be in sports and in life.

I’m just asking you to consider it. To think it over. I know I am.

Thanks for the visit! Let’s play ball!