Over the past few years, basketball and I have had a blossoming relationship. I grew up with a hoop in our backyard, but always stayed very closed-minded when it came to basketball. I did not play very much and as I got older the gap between myself and other kids who played got bigger and I stopped playing or shooting around altogether. A few things happened to change my relationship with basketball, but that is not what this post is about.
I am the assistant coach for the junior boys basketball team at the high school where I am teaching. Not exactly the ‘money-making’ or ‘glory’ role on the team, but it is a great way to learn the game and have some fun while also maybe teaching adolescents a few things about sports and life. The story below is a tale of two teams, a tale of two quarters, a tale of highs, a tale of lows, and a tale that we can all learn from.
It is December 8, 2021. The seniors are finishing up their game and the juniors are warming up in the opposite gym. The final buzzer sounds and the junior team heads onto the court to finish their warm-up, accompanied by Drake over the sound system. This is the final preseason game for the team. The roster has been made, over 20 other kids have been cut, but the final 15 are fighting for starting lineups, playing time, and trying to stay off the taxi squad that may be needed this season.
The first half of the game is relatively uneventful. Both teams traded scores, neither goes on a run. Some good defensive plays are made, some laughable offensive mistakes are committed as is usual in preseason games, the score is 24-27 for the opposition and rebounds are 15-12 for us. It is in the third and fourth quarter where things get interesting.
If you have played or watched basketball, you will know that it is a game of runs. Each team will go on streaks during the game. What causes those streaks to start? That is an interesting question. It may be that one player may hit a shot and then another and all of a sudden the team perks up. It may be that a huge defensive play is made which leads to a change in the tempo of the game. It may be that a player or team wasn’t getting the bounces and the law of averages kicks in. Whatever the cause, at the start of the 3rd quarter, we went on a run.
When you watch a game on TV and your team is on a run, you can hear the change in the crowd, but if you are at the game, you can feel the change. The crowd will become electric! Fans will be standing, cheering, screaming, not believing what they are watching, they will be electric, high-fiving, feeling as though nothing can stop them. When you watch the pros play, they remain very calm and usually, nothing changes about their demeanour, they play as if it was just business as usual. However, the junior team I coach are not pros and neither am I. When we started the 3rd, we went right down the court and drained a three. High-pressure defence led to a quick turnover and we scored an easy layup. A rebound, a shot, another rebound and a layup turned a 3 point deficit into a 4 point lead in 90 seconds. The opposition, reeling after giving up 7 straight, tried to get something going. A forced pass, another turnover, and another layup. We had 9 straight to start the quarter. This was one of those electric moments. The players on the bench were going wild. Another rebound, more yells! I struggled to stay composed. Our player dove to the floor to get the ball and threw it out to his teammate. Another 3. That was the breaking point for me. I cheered along with the rest of the guys (an assistant coach has much less responsibility than a head coach). The 3rd quarter was 8 minutes of electric plays, rebounds, blocks, tough defence, steals, layups, elbow jumpers, and threes. When it was all said and done, we outscored them 17 - 7, outrebounded them 14 - 3, and we were ready to cruise to an easy victory.
In the brief moments between the 3rd and 4th quarters, the head coach tried to calm the players down. The main message was, “Remember the basics: strong defence, work hard, win rebounds, play quick not rushed.” Everyone nodded along, the team gathered for a cheer, and the boys fired back onto the court ready to add on to the 7 point lead we had acquired through our 3rd quarter play. The guys on the bench were buzzing, clapping, and cheering, the energy was still electric.
The 4th quarter started with a bang. The opposing team walked down the court and the point guard hit a three; it was now a four-point game. One of our players wanted to show that up. He threw up the shot, they got the rebound, a quick break and now it was a two-point game. Cue up some rushed offensive plays, lazy defence and in less than 2 minutes we had blown our 7 point lead, the score was now 43 - 45 for them. The electric energy was gone, the bench had gone quiet, (I was as guilty as the players). A few more plays and we were down by 6. Nothing could change the 4th quarter around. I commend the head coach for his timeouts, his speeches, switching out players, he did his best. When the buzzer sounded to end the game we had lost, 47 - 52. In the fourth quarter, they outscored us 18 - 6 and outrebounded us 12 - 4.
Thankfully, this was an exhibition game and for an exhibition game, it could not have gone better in the sense that there were many takeaways from the game, many lessons learned, both for the players and coaches alike. The biggest takeaways are the ones best applied to life and that is about the highs and lows in a basketball game.
Takeaway 1: Tough Times Do Not Last.
When our team went on the run in the third quarter, the energy was high, everyone believed we were going to win, it seemed we could do nothing wrong. That is alright, as long as you don’t let your emotions run away. The problem was that we did let our emotions run when things started to go poorly, the emotions ran just as strong, yet in the opposite direction. There was no cheering, no energy, no belief in victory. When things started to go poorly, our heads went down, we lost hope, and all belief in victory was gone. Why? Because of two minutes of poor play. The game was far from over, the score very close, and yet, we had already conceded victory. We believed that, because of two minutes of play, the game was over, the team we were playing could not be beaten. We believed that the low, the tough time would last for the rest of the game, and it did, mainly because we let it. What should we have done? We should have maintained our high energy, we should have encouraged strong defence, we should have kept our belief, we should have kept our core principles. We should have remembered that basketball is a game of swings and that we were in a low swing and should we respond correctly, that low swing would not last.
It is easy to say this now, it is easy to look back and reflect, hindsight, as they say, is 20/20. The past cannot be changed, we cannot go back and change how we acted on that day, but we can reflect on our mistakes, learn from them, grow from them, and apply them in the future so we do not make the same mistake again, and that is how I find myself here.
How do I respond when times are low in my life? How do I act, how do I carry myself, what is my belief in success, who do I turn to, how well do I implement my core values when things are difficult, when life is at a low. It is easy to sit here and write about how we should try to act, it is difficult to implement when the rubber hits the road, and yet, we must try. Try to remember that life goes through swings, that there are highs and there will inevitably be lows, and it is when we are in those lows that life hits the hardest. When this happens, we should remember basketball; hanging your head, losing energy, dismissing belief, does not help us, these actions hinder us, they allow the low time to persist. What we should do is go back to the basics, keep our beliefs, find people to help us, remember our principles, and remember that tough times do not last.
Takeaway 2: The Highs and Lows are Not the Same and Should not be Treated as Such
Discussing the highs and lows of basketball is not a new conversation. This is a theme that is often talked about but one that many people respond to incorrectly. A common misconception is that the response to the highs and the lows of basketball should be the same. This is true in one sense, you have your core principles, your game plan, and those should not be changed lightly. But to say that the highs and lows should be treated as the same is absurd. What does a coach do when a player is on a run? They keep that player in. “Ride the hot hand’ is the expression generally used in this situation. When things are going well, you can alter the game plan to keep things going well. What happens if a player is having a bad game? You change things up, give them different opportunities, different matchups, different looks to try to help them get out of their funk. Yes, the basics shouldn’t change, but you respond differently to whether things are going well or not.
Don’t treat the highs and lows in your life the same. If something is going well, there is a reason for that. Try to find that reason and replicate it as much as possible. If something is going poorly, try to find out why, and then most importantly, how can you eliminate that action to prevent that low in the future. The goal in basketball is to maximize the highs and minimize the lows and the goal for life is the same. I do not want a life of bad breakups, poor relationships, and losing jobs. I do not want a life of making the same mistakes that lead to the same failures over and over again. By treating the highs and lows of life differently, I can begin to decrease the negative and increase the positive, which will give me success on and off the court.
Yours in the lows and yours in the highs.
Patrick
Killer article, thanks for sharing!