Tales from youth basketball The girl had everything. She was well-groomed, successful, personable, and fun. With her perpetual smile, it appeared the girl never had a bad day. But, that is only how it seemed because those of us who knew her were aware of the barriers that life had put in her path. My … Continue reading Bridget, the most courageous girl I ever knew

tales from youth basketball I was looking for escape from travel basketball and agreed to coach a 7th-8th grade girls team in the local city recreational program. It was a great break and one that came with some unexpected and uncommon memories. The team I was given had a group of girls who were fun … Continue reading The demise of Mr. Arrogance

One thing was clear.  It was going to be a tough season of coaching girls youth basketball. How did I know? Well, I was in my first year of being on the board of directors for the city basketball program and I had rosters for every girls team---including player ratings which had been included by … Continue reading No points? No point guard? No problem!

If you've coached basketball for a few years, you probably have special memories of special players. For me, Sara is one of those. It was September and we were re-forming our seventh grade travel team in preparation for the new season.  We had filled most of our roster but had one spot open that my … Continue reading “Coach, can I have some alcohol?”

She was 10, she was tough, and she was trouble. We were in our third year of producing a Summer basketball league for fifth-through-seventh grade girls. In May of each year, we conducted a week-long skills clinic that preceded the Summer league.  We had high school players and a few from college who led drills … Continue reading Tales of youth basketball: Brittany