Submitted by Coach Heidi Paschal for 90Ten Basketball Academy
Bigger than basketball. We say it all the time, coaches and players alike. But what does it really mean? How do we accomplish this as a coaching staff and as a program? BUY IN! It all comes down to buy in.
As a program we have to get coaches, players and parents all on the same page. As most would guess this is sometimes easier said than done. I think we are so fortunate as a first year program to have the group of athletes we have had to work with this season. From the very beginning when we had our prep clinic last summer the kids just came together, and were so willing to buy into what we were trying to accomplish when it came to the bigger picture.
We pride ourselves on being one big family. Not just one team or side of the program, but the whole program. I feel like we were very honest with the kids from the very beginning. This wasn’t going to be easy. Almost every team within the program had to play up a grade level and sometimes two levels. That’s not easy. But never once did the kids complain or make excuses. They battled, worked hard and came together as a whole. They battled in every single game in every single tournament. Often times being the talk of the tournament…”did you see those girls do that?” or “did you see those little guys play those big kids over there?” I strongly feel like we were able to do this because of that family mentality. They had to learn how to support, encourage, push and trust one another.
It’s human nature when things don’t come easy to just give up, or move onto something else. That’s not what any of our teams did this year. They stepped up to the challenge. In the end we believe that not only the kids, but also the parents got to witness where these players true character came from. And in the end, we hope they all realize, it’s bigger than basketball.
