January 10th, 2012 | Uncategorized
Hey guys,
I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays as much as I did. It was a pleasure to get home and spend time with family and friends which you learn to appreciate greatly after living in a different country. Since being back in Northern Ireland, I have taken my finance/accounting exam with marketing and economics still to come (yea I know, exams after the holidays?!). Anyways it feels great to be back! As I had mentioned to a few folks the other day; when I firsted arrived back and was walking around I had felt like I never left. It was a good feeling for this place to feel like home. That feeling comes from the supporting cast around me here.
It was back to the fun of coaching the Junior Elks girls last night at practice. This was the first session back for the girls since Christmas and everyone was anxious and excited to see each other. Obviously, one of the main focuses for practice was to just get everyone back into the swing of things and run off some of that good ol’ holiday eating. As I had mentioned in previous blog postings, I have to deal with a wide range of talent. This can make for a difficult practice schedule. Now that I have been able to spend plenty of time with these girls coaching them, I have found ways to engage everyone equally while staying competitive.
We have a girl on our team now who is younger than most of the girls and is naturally intimidated when playing in practice. Although she is one of our better players, I find her sometimes holding back against the older girls. Dealing with this problem has been challenging, but I constantly encourage her good plays. This gives her confidence along with making the others become aware of the respect she has on the court. Earlier in the year, I would have not been able to detect this problem and now through some experience working with the girls I can see where talent or skills are not being maximized.
Time has flown by since first coming to Northern Ireland and I can say truly that this has been an amazing experience thus far. Through the time being here, I have grown as a leader, basketball player, and an overall person. Quite frankly, that is the main reason I came over, which was to build character. I have been able to attain these different characteristics because of the activities and people I am involved with on the daily basis.
PS. I met David Stern, the commissioner of the NBA, over the holidays when I was back home. I would love to one day be “The Commish”.
I will continue to share my experience with you guys.
Happy New Year!
Darryl
