ABC

October 7th, 2015 | Uncategorized

 

A great tune that is really popular here ‘at the minute’ is Easy Love by Sigala. It’s a take on the Jackson 5 classssic ABC. If you’re a fan of the original song and haven’t heard it yet, you should probably check it out (you’re welcome). It just so happens to be one of my favorite songs right now. It already has a place on my Elks pregame playlist. BUT I digress…

 

Aside from being an absolute jam, I’ve adopted this song as my unofficial coaching anthem. And here’s why…

 

I have been making the transition from college athlete to youth coach in my first month of coaching here. It has been an adjustment to try to put myself mentally in the basketball boots of the kids that I’m coaching, especially those are brand new to the game. Coming from playing in the US at a level where fundamentals and skills are a given, it is been a change of pace. I’ve been pushed to think back to what it was like when I was first learning the simple “ABCs” of the game in order to effectively coach them. And this could not have been more necessary when The UUJ scholars and Aimee were coaching a clinic for 8 year olds last week.

 

We spent most of the hour session with the lads on dribbling and ball handling. Our focus wasn’t on putting crafty crossovers into their arsenal of moves, but rather teaching them how to simply bounce the ball on the floor properly! Having played basketball as long as I could remember, I took the ability to dribble for granted. I couldn’t honestly remember a time when I didn’t know how to dribble. But as the session went on, I got more and more in touch with my inner 5 year old ginger kid, heaving a basketball at the basket and bouncing the ball all over the place at the YMCA where it all began. I slowly remembered what it was like learning the most basic aspects of the game.

 

A wise man once said that in life you should always have one hand up to a mentor to make yourself better and the other hand down to help others become more. This year, I will have so much opportunity to pay it forward and offer that hand back to some ballers here in Belfast. I tend to associate songs with times of my life, so this song will probably remind me of my first days in Belfast for years to come. But for now, it will continue to remind me to keep it ABC, easy as 1 2 3 when teaching the fundamentals of the game.

 

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