Two weeks ago, I started my coaching sessions with the boys and girls at Tyndall College, a local vocational school in Carlow. I work with the U16 boys on Tuesdays and the U16 girls on Wednesdays. Unfortunately, as is the case with most of my coaching, I am unable to coach them at their games. I am running the practices (training sessions) for three local school teams, but they all play their games during school hours when I am in class or have other commitments.
However, today, I had class off and the Tyndall kids had back-to-back games in the IT Carlow college gym. Ally, their gym teacher and coach, invited me to come watch. I watched the girls play first and then sat on the bench for the boys’ game against a school from Kilkenny. I took the role of assistant coach and offered some tips and words of advice in timeouts and in between quarters.
The first half was a back and forth affair with a lot of lead changes as the two teams exchanged baskets in between the many possessions that ended in turnovers and steals. In the third quarter, the Tyndall boys pulled ahead with a 10-point lead, 32-22. But, in the fourth quarter the opposition fought back with a 12-0 run of their own to take a two-point lead with only 18 seconds to go. Ally called a timeout and turned to me to draw up a play to tie or win the game.
Note that earlier in the game, I drew up a simple (for people with a basketball background) out-of-bounds underneath play. Despite walking through the play slowly and making sure all 5 players understood what they were doing, they broke the huddle and returned to the court to not even line up in the correct position. Some of the boys have some talent but none of them have really been taught basketball or understand how any type of designed play works. So, understandably, I had minimal confidence in them executing a live-ball play with the game on the line. However, I decided to give it a go with that previous attempt at a play in mind.
The other team was playing a 2-3 zone, so I designed a simple “play” to have Tyndall’s best scorer, Eddie, bring the ball up the floor and get a ball screen from a teammate on the top guard on the zone. I told Eddie to come off the screen with his strong right hand, look for an opening, and make a play. As they left the huddle, I handed Ally back the clipboard and gave her a little shrug and smile hoping that they would at least get a shot off.
As the ball entered play again and the clock ticked down, 10…9….8… the boys ran it to perfection. Eddie came off the screen as the others spaced the floor, and he stepped confidently into an open three-pointer that found the bottom of the net, putting Tyndall up by 1 with 6 seconds to go as the other team called timeout. I couldn’t help but smile and shake my head as the boys celebrated at half-court like they had just won the NBA Finals, big smiles on all their faces as the jumped on and around Eddie. They ended the game with a steal to seal the victory.
It was great to see them win the game and do so in such dramatic fashion. However, more than the result of the game itself, I think their reaction to Eddie’s game-winner epitomizes their enthusiasm for basketball and how well they get along with each other. I’ve only been working with them for two training sessions, but they are always full of energy. Even on days when I’m working with the girls, the boys always stop by the gym and try to convince Ally to let them shoot around even though it isn’t their gym time. They love playing and it was great to see that energy and enthusiasm result in a thrilling win today! I can’t wait to see them for training tomorrow.
