Does Winning Make You a Good Coach?

I will admit and I told the players from both teams who chose me to be their coach that I do not have the technical knowledge of coaching and all I can offer is proper mixing and motivation. Honestly, I never excelled as a basketball player. I contented myself with being a role player; doing the dirty work and making my teammates look good instead of me. This was my role ever since high school, never really gave the star player complex much thought. All I cared about was contributing and of course getting my own basketball uniform. I had the build, the height and the basics of defense to lean on. Scoring was never my cup of tea. It was more about the little things, hustle and the dirty work. I even became an enforcer and looked eye to eye with players who were aiming to hurt my friends.

Anyway, my competitive playing days were hampered since the year 2000. One by one, my injuries took its toll from continuous playing ball, and I guess it’s safe to say that I have burned myself out playing ball here and there. I remember a time where I played in three leagues at once, some even scheduled on the same playing day. Please note that this did not include scrimmages and training sessions. Injuries to my ankles, wrists, shoulders and my knees (I am a candidate for ACL-Anterior Cruciate Ligament). Actually, I just told myself, I will just wait for my knee to give way before completely calling it quits. I have no plans of having them surgically repaired since I am no professional athlete to do so. Oh and lest I forget, last year I suffered another injury while playing for the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, a pulled hamstring and tendonitis again on my right shoulder. Well, as it was, it just showed my usual routine of not being able to finish a tournament without having any injury. So what else was new?

Going back, I accepted the coaching job for my young players at Xavier Alumni Basketball League since I wanted to get a feel of how it was to be directing them and teaching them the basics. But I cautioned them not to expect too much from me, as technical knowledge is my waterloo here. I focused on camaraderie and conditioning. Shooting drills is my cup of tea, some of which I picked up from past playing days with teams especially the Ateneo team last year. The result so far has been over achieving. Our main goal of reaching the quarterfinals was done last Sunday, with a whopping 25 point win over the defending champs. Even I was surprised at the guys play, and we will be going up against a team that has a twice to beat advantage this Sunday. As my player said, each game is a last game and pressure is mounting with every game that we win. No thanks to Typhoon Milenyo which forced us to call of practice, the odds are stacked up all the more. Now I am left with studying the possibilities and adjustments our opponent will do this Sunday. We beat them last time out by only 3 points, and I am expecting the worst. But keeping my faith in the boys, I know they will pull through. We are 4-0 since I took over the coaching chores and I am hopeful it holds up. Fingers-crossed!

Then there is the La Salle Alumni Basketball Team. The team is composed of mixed players, both old and new, most of which I have played with the past years. We won the first two games handily, the first by 40 points, and the second by 30 points. We had our first real taste of challenge when we barely escaped with a 3 point winning margin. We met the same team last Wednesday and won by 15 to 16 points. On Sunday after my first game with the XABL team, we will be facing one of the competitive teams and again this is racking up my nerves. Hopefully the guys will respond as well. We are on a 4-0 record since the start of the league. I hope we can extend the winning run so we can be ready for the next game as well, a team toting the same record as us, no loss!

Which brings me to this point; does winning mean I am a good coach? I often give the credit to my players because they are on the hard court. I just direct them and shuffle the men as effectively as I can. Sometimes, I question myself, when will my luck run out. I know much of this can be attributed to luck and motivation but as far as technical knowledge, I will admit, it rattles me at times but I don’t show it. Whatever it is, I hope it keeps up. For both teams we have barely reached our goal. I guess my only sigh of relief will be when we finish the tourney on a high note.

Just last week, I was offered the coaching position of my former team, the Ateneo Graduate School of Business. I politely declined and just offered to be an assistant. I am not ready to burn egos with former UAAP players and ex-pros. The last thing I would want is to get into conflict with them, most of which are my friends who may look at me in the wrong way. Coaching at this level is enough, and for another notch is something I am not ready to do as of now. Besides, my hyperacidity during games keeps on acting up, showing the amount of pressure I get each time I call the shots.

Just this afternoon, a player of mine on the current XABL team asked me if I could coach. I told him yes. It was easy for me to say yes since I know the players will have respect for me. Respect is something one thing I don’t want to lose and is perhaps why I politely said no to the Ateneo Graduate School of Business basketball team coaching position. For this phase, I would rather learn than lead them. There is simply too much talent and egos to handle, something I do not think I can handle.