One of the hardest things for kids to learn is to share and not be selfish. Hell sometimes we still struggle with this concept as adults. One big benefit of having a large family is that my kids are forced to learn to share as it’s necessary when you have 4 siblings.
I was always a team player and prided myself on being an unselfish player. No matter what level of basketball I played I was never a “gunner” or “ball hog.” It’s very difficult to play with selfish players.
That brings me to Chase’s team. He has several players who won’t pass to the weaker players on the team. I understand they are young but they need to learn teamwork early on. Today was one of the best passing games for all players on his team but one. (More to come on that)
Chase had his best game all season and his extra practicing with me definitely paid off. He got to play three quarters because his team was short two players and he grabbed a lot of rebounds (I seriously think he had close to 10 boards), had several steals and even though he didn’t score, he had a few good shots at the basket.
His solid performance and the team’s win were overshadowed by one player’s selfish play. I’ve been getting way too fired up at games and today was no exception. But today wasn’t because of the refs, parents or other team. It was because one player on Chase’s team was such a “gunner” that it was out of control. I normally don’t say anything to other players other than good shot, pass, etc but I couldn’t take it anymore today.
I started out with “work together white.” Then moved to “move the ball white.” Then I went to “look up” and “so and so is wide open.” And finally I yelled “pass the ball.” After yelling “pass the ball” three parents on our team looked up at me and gave me a thumbs up and nodded in agreement.
One set of parents who are Giants fans (wear Giants gear almost every game while I often wear Eagles gear) jokingly said to me “hey even though you’re an Eagles fan we agree with you on that one. We can put aside our differences outside and agree on that.”
So the lack of passing by one player wasn’t just observed by me. It was very frustrating and should have been addressed by our coaches. Teach the kids early.
It was so bad that I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that in the second quarter this player took every shot on offense (non-rebound) every possession. It was brutal to watch.
So I continued the next quarter with subtle “work together, move the ball, look up” and a few blatant “pass the ball.” It didn’t really improve much but it was all I could do from yelling out hey number 5 pass the bleeping ball.
I felt bad for Chase and some of his teammates who were wide open at times and never got the ball. It’s not fair to a team to have a “ball hog.” It’s probably one of the hardest things to deal with in basketball. I have no tolerance for it and I really hope it improves next week in their season finale and for the playoffs.
Basketball is a team sport. There is no I in team but there is I in selfish. Please teach your kids to be team players and teach them early. This won’t only help them in sports, but in school, work and other areas of their lives.
#teamplayer #theresnoiinteam #passtheball #recbaskteball #youthsports #teachthemearly #dontbeselfish
