Bye Bye Bye

One of the best nights of my life happened back in 2000. I was coaching the California HS girls JV basketball team in San Ramon, CA. We didn’t have a game for a week, so I thought we should have a little fun. I had been coaching this same group of girls for two years already, and had developed a pretty good relationship with them.

The second half of practice entailed me having a little fun with them. My girls were having a hard time understanding that we needed to take care of the ball, not be so careless with it. So, the night before, I came up with an idea. I boiled two eggs, drew some faces on them, named one Bob, and Jeff named the other some Albanian name I couldn’t pronounce even if I could remember it. So, in the gym, I pulled out the eggs and said “drop the basketballs, we’re doing the figure-8 drill with Bob!” The girls didn’t quite understand what I meant. After pulling out the eggs, they soon caught on and laughed at another of my ridiculous ideas. It was great to watch them concentrate so much, and perform a perfect figure-8 drill. After a few minutes, they started to loosen up a little and get more vocal. Before I knew it, they were playfully yelling at each other, “Don’t drop Bob!” After much laughter and desperate effort to not drop Bob, someone did drop Bob. But my point was made.

The first part of practice is what was the most memorable part, and made us more of a team. They always teased me because I would often relate my stories of being in high school and participating in sports and marching band. I would always say “how did we get 140 people on a field to make clear movements and shapes, and I can’t even get 10 of you to run a simple play?”

Since it's probably not obvious, it's the Star of David

So on this particular night in 2000, I decided to show them something fun – I broke out the band video. What I got was a lot of ooh’s and ahh’s. We were not your momma’s marching band. After the video, I read them a statement I had found on the internet about my high school’s band. It was from a former member to the current members. It said that no matter what happens with the results, it's the experience that will always last in your memory. What people will remember is the friends they’ve made, the lessons they’ve learned, and the experiences they’ve had. I wanted to impress on these young ladies that we needed to make the most of what we had, to not let the bad days or bad games, ruin what we were building. It was an emotional moment that each girl remembered throughout the season, and even brought up at the season-ending banquet. It's also an experience I will never forget.

Two reasons for this story. One, because one of our gifts to Jessie reminded me of this happy time, and the car rides to games singing along to N’Sync (thanks to Beth; say hi to Justin for me!).

Two, because of the eggs. As I take my eggs to meet the Mexican tomorrow, I hope all the Bob’s and Albanian’s are doing their best to keep things going in my little world.