Finding fun and fulfillment coaching middle school basketball
By Ryan Brummel As a college student in an apartment full of avid basketball fans, my evenings between November and March look very similar. It was a random Wednesday night in December and my roommate and I were watching Big Ten basketball in our living room while eating a go-to college delicacy: the frozen pizza. All of a sudden I get a text from Nate Thomasma, the Newaygo Varsity Girls' Basketball coach, asking if I was interested in getting into coaching. As a Secondary Education major, the possibility of coaching was what initially drew me into pursuing the profession. We talked for a bit, and he asked if I would be willing to coach Newaygo’s 7th-grade girls' basketball team. I told him I’d look at my schedule and get back to him, as I knew my next semester at Grand Valley would be super busy without the added responsibility of coaching. I looked at my class schedule for the upcoming winter semester, to see if I could shuffle my classes around to fit practices and games in. The more I thought about the job, the more my mind raced about all the things I could teach the girls that my ignorant 22-year-old self thought other coaches wouldn’t. So a couple of days later, against my best academic interests, I told Nate I would take the job. My weeks during January and February may have made me the busiest person on the planet, or so it felt like it. I was Student Assisting (teaching half the day) in an 8th-grade math class in Grandville every morning, followed by a 2-hour education class in Downtown GR four days a week, and rounding out each day with an hour drive one way to basketball practice every afternoon/evening. Despite this daunting schedule ahead of me, I was excited and anxious to get started. Despite being excited to start the season and begin working with the girls, I can say that I was not really sure how much I would enjoy coaching not just a middle school team, but middle school girls. When I envisioned myself coaching, I pictured taking a small-town varsity boys team to the state championship in classic “Hoosiers” fashion, not twelve and thirteen-year-old girls. I was uncertain about how I would approach coaching middle school girls, so I went to my roommate for advice. I have a roommate who helps coach a boys' varsity team, and we talk basketball and coaching 24/7. After hearing of me taking the 7th-grade girls’ job he gave me this famous one-liner: “I know literally nothing about the female species, so you’re on your own.” Aside from making me laugh hysterically, he was of little help. The one thing I did have going for me, was that I have watched my sister’s basketball team play hundreds of hours of basketball since I was in elementary school. And I know I’m biased but it’s safe to say her team was pretty dang good considering they have a banner hanging in Newaygo’s gym. Knowing that watching my sister’s team have massive success brought me the best few months of my life without question, I wanted to be able to help the next generation of lady lions take a small step forward toward potential success at the varsity level. The first week of practice mainly was me evaluating the girls and their skill sets. I had to find out what they know and what they know how to do before I can start implementing a scheme of any kind. After the first couple of practices I for some reason was surprised that the girls didn’t know as much as my twenty-two-year-old basketball-addicted self. Even so, I told the girls that we would be running all “varsity stuff” meaning the defensive schemes and offensive sets Nate runs at the varsity level. I think continuity in a basketball program is often underrated and overlooked. That meant the girls had two weeks to learn new offensive sets as well as a foreign 1-3-1 zone defense. This meant the next bunch of practices brought information overload. Going into the first game I thought the girls had a decent handle on what we were running. Not realizing until after the season that we had a gauntlet of a schedule for the first week or so of games, the first few games brought frustration for coach and players alike. I had to keep reminding myself they just got introduced to all these new sets and were running a completely new defensive scheme. Despite the rough start the girls vastly improved over not just the season but from game to game winning 6 of their last 8. All of my players improved tremendously whether they realized it or not. Improvement ranged anywhere from their skillset, confidence, leadership, body language, and basketball IQ in general. The two-month game season flew by so fast that it felt like I blinked and it was over. I don’t think I’ve had a more rewarding experience in all my life. There was nothing like us losing a close game to Central Montcalm we all felt we should have won, then proceeding to beat them handily only a week later. I loved watching my girls run a set to perfection and finishing it off with a made jump shot or layup that we’ve been working on all year. I loved the girls making the right rotations on our 1-3-1 defense to get a steal without me having to shout anything out when at the beginning of the season we looked lost and confused. I loved watching the joy the game brought the girls when they played well. I loved watching my girls get more confident in themselves as the season went on. I loved the girls growing together as a team and bonding more as the season progressed. Of all the rewarding things that came with the job the experience I gained was a drop in the bucket compared to watching the team progress and the girls become better versions of themselves. Two months and some odd weeks later I have learned more from coaching this team as I feel like I’ve learned in all of my seventeen years of education. The biggest thing I’ve learned was how to communicate with my players which will help me in my education career tremendously. I learned very quickly that raising my voice was significantly ineffective. This meant more individual conversations. Some of my players wore their thoughts on their sleeves and were easy to see what they were thinking and connect to. But there were a few that were definitely tough to crack. As the season went on, I felt like I got even my more stubborn players to open up a little more to me and create the player-coach dialogue that all successful teams need. I also learned that I love to coach girls' basketball way more than I thought I would. I had an absolute blast coaching this team. They were much better listeners and much more coachable than any boys' team I’ve been on or around and it’s not even close. Coaching also meant that I had to hold myself to a higher standard on and off the court. The best coaches are ones who lead by example and don’t just show their players how to be successful on the court, but how to be successful in life off the court. Not to say I previously was a bad example but it made me think twice about how I composed myself. Future Hall of Fame coach Steve Kerr in a postgame interview mentioned a quote “People play basketball the way they live their life”. I believe that is even more true for coaches. I believe you can see who a person is by looking at the way they coach and that was how I approached this season. I cannot overstate how much I enjoyed coaching this season. I appreciate Nate for giving me the opportunity. I also want to thank the parents of the girls because this team was so fun to coach which means they must be doing something right. I hope the parents and my players know that I would run through a wall for them, and I cannot wait to see them fulfill their potential and see the success they earn at the varsity level. And I hope this season I spent with them made just a tiny, little contribution in getting them there.
2 Comments
Janet
3/18/2023 08:50:13 pm
Ryan, it truly is rare when a coach "gets" it. It's when the development of your players is more important than the win/loss column. Girls are a different breed, but you may have grasped their significance. I'm proud of you.
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John Reeves
3/27/2023 07:09:21 pm
What a beautiful story. I have three daughters that played softball and I was honored to have coached them several years. Congratulations and good luck in your future endeavors.
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