Picking the team...

When we were kids and in school, whether grade school, middle school or high school, groups are how we defined ourselves. Some of us were in the "cool" group, some in the "jock" group, while others were "geeks" or "math nerds". I bet there are even a couple of us that were "pot heads".

But the real test of our inner worth, was whether we got picked first or last for "team sports" in gym class. Yep, phys ed really made or broke us. Admit it, if you were not athletically enclined, the mear thought of putting on your tennis shoes and gym shorts made your stomach flip flop.

For me it was no different. Although I didn't define myself as any one of those group (maybe a little of each one) my grade school and middle school years were just torture. Not only was I NEVER the team captain, but I was a chunky little girl and usually picked last or toward the end on "team games" in gym class. And man did I hate it. Until one day...

For some strange reason, one Saturday morning in 5th grade my one friend encouraged me to come to her intermural basketball game. I went and because at that time I was one of the tallest girls and maybe one of the bigger ones, too (5'3" and 125lbs) the coach of the team suggested I try out for the basketball team. Well I went to a Catholic Grade school, and everyone made the team, so I did it. I couldn't dribble the ball, I had no real talent, but at that very young age, I discovered what will be my drive through life - I had HUSTLE! So for the next seven years I turned that hustle into skill until I was no longer the last picked, but the captain of the team.

I would not have been able to do any of it without my coaches. These coaches believed in me enough to pick me for their team to begin with (or so I thought) and then they took the time to develop my techniques both on the court and off. They showed me how to lead by example and instilled in me a believe in myself - a belief that if I hustled, I could compete with those "talented" girls. I even won an award in my junior year of high school at Bobby Knights Basketball Camp in Indiana for my hustle efforts!

My point of this post is this - it is really hard to divide people into groups as adults. The feelings that the campers get in the pits of their stomach when we say they are going to be divided are very similar to those we felt as kids. So as the coach, I have to constantly try to make sure that I never make anyone feel like they are not good enough to be in a group and once they are broken up to make sure that each of us that leads the group never uses words like slow or out of shape to define our group. We need to build the members of our group up. Even in the group of campers with faster PT times, there will always be a back.

As instructors we should draw from our experiences as kids and make sure to use our encouragement and understanding of how each camper feels to help them find their inner "hustle". If you really look past the fact that many of our campers are out of shape, often times you can see their desire. You can see how bad they want to be the first one picked.

And that is how we change their lives.