IT'S ALL HAPPENING AGAIN

For the past few weeks (in reality the last few months) I have been gearing up to start the basketball season.  I am coaching at Rogers Adventist School, as the 7th-8th head coach and Walla Walla Valley Academy, as a JV head coach and varsity assistant.  I have been writing up practices plans, drawing up inbounds plays, and re-evaluating our defense.  And now, its about to take me over for another 5 months and if you include being a big time college fan make it 6 months.  Even though I dream about it at home, breaks at work and while spending time with friends, it always seems to sneak up on me.  Not that I wouldn't say I am unprepared, it just seems unreal that we are about to start another season.

If I am forced to, I can think back through the web of time and remember my 1st season as a coach.  I has the freshman coach at WWVA in 2005-2006.  I think about the nervous phone call I made to Coach Schafer to ask about coaching there.  He graciously allowed me to coach for him at the entry level Freshman job.  We practice with the JV team at Rogers gym and it was a fiasco.  Too many kids and to say that the coaching staff was  inexperienced would be like saying Jordan might have a chance of beating Betty White in a game of 1 on 1.  I learned a lot that year and had great kids even though we didn't experience much success, a nice way of saying we had a totally defeated season, they taught me how little I knew about coaching and the preparation it takes to have a successful team (and that means way more then just how many wins you get). 

This year I feel a lot different heading into the season although I still feel that same sense of unpredictability I felt that season.  Which guys will stand out in the crowd?  What inbounds play will be a total flop?  Will we meet our goals by the end of the season?  I really do have answers to these questions, but that's OK.  I love this time of year, it's the previews to the movies, it's the last few moments right before you get to Disneyland.  The not knowing maybe the best part of the season, but that's about over now and on Monday at 3:00pm we start the knowing and I can't wait.