What a fantastic day to kick off our season.
On the first day of practicing you can't get too much accomplished. Our rules state you have to have 10 hours of conditioning without pads on and 10 hours with pads on before you can have any contact. So, as you can guess it is a lot of running and a lot of judging. Now as you can see I have named day #1 as the "Smasher of Dreams." Which is a line from a song by Metallica named Master of Puppets. I happened to listen to this song earlier in the day and was struck by the fact my mind went to thinking that i could actually ruin kids dreams. What kid playing any sport hasn't thought they could be so and so from a professional team and dream that they could win the big game and make it to the majors. I can tell you what kid...ME! My father was very truthful about the percentage of kids who could go all the way to the pros. I never held it against him. I respected his honesty and didn't mind it being on front street. Don't think I didn't dream I could win the big game or match to help the team win. Heck I day dream at work that my sons could be the kid that has his moment! OK enough of that back to the song. The line that hit me from the song goes as such "Master of Puppets I'm pulling your strings. Twisting your minds and smashing your dreams." If I have learned anything from coaching it is that we as coaches can have as much to do with these kids lives as their parents, teachers, and even friends. This also means we could be the ones who have to tell the kid he/she is just not good enough to be a starter or a major contributor to the team. Which isn't hard if you don't think about it, but lately I have thought nothing but this when dealing with the kids. Having the responsibility of leading the defense and probably making decisions on who plays and how much has given me pause. Let's take my son for example. Two months ago or so I asked him what position he is striving to play and he said corner back. I said without hesitation "as your defensive coach there is no way you are playing corner." See if you don't know corner you need speed which is something he lacks. Slowest skinny kid I have ever seen. Mentally he may be the fastest, but the kid is not fast. He is however quick, which is what I could use on the d-line. So I told him as much. He did not seem excited or amused. This made me think he was having those dreams I mentioned earlier about being the man. I felt horrible...for maybe 3 seconds. Like my father before me I had to tell him the truth and make sure he knew I still needed and wanted him on my defense. Which brings me to all the rest of these kids that I have say over. I hope this doesn't get to brutal with the parents. They usually take it harder than the kids. I will tackle that bridge when it comes and IT WILL COME!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z-hEyVQDRA
"Coach" Nathan
p.s. I hope I CAN make a couple of kids dream even bigger than they already are, because I know they are all dreaming after day #1
p.p.s. The song Master of Puppets is about addiction and has no real connection to youth sports
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