February 6th, 2014 | Uncategorized
After practice last night, I gave my girls a homework assignment. I said “I want you to write five sentences on why you enjoy playing basketball and what motivates you to keep playing.” I knew there would be some objection and of course Aoife shouts “Oh , but we already have a lot of homework!” I laughed and told them if they did a few sentences a night, then they would be grand! I also told them they needed to bring it to practice on Saturday morning. What I hope to get from this mini assignment is a better understanding of why the girls enjoy playing basketball. Most of them come to practice every week, unless they are involved in other sports (which I absolutely love and encourage because I was a three-sport athlete in high school), but sometimes they lose focus so easily in practice.
I remembered when I was 12, I had already started thinking about college and I was very much focused on competing with my teammates and peers. On the other hand, sports are different all over the world. Views are different and the outcome athletes expect to get can vary too. I think I would be able to help them engage more in practice if I knew the reasons behind their interest in playing basketball. I also want them to learn how to be students of the game and self-reflecting on what the benefits of sport are and how they can help. The girls want to win games and its time to step it up in practice with more intensity, so stay tuned to see what inspires the 12U huskies.
