HOOPS ELITE MAGAZINE
pick the ball up. I look at coaching as
many things but the most important
is being a leader. I believe some of
the most important moments I have
is not when they get an offense or
master a defense, but when I can see
them grow up right in front of me.
Eric, Out of your 5 boys, do any of
them have the same passion as
you do for coaching?
Ironically yes, my 11 year old son. I
find him on the court calling plays
(and he is not the point guard) and
adjusting defenses, directing and redirecting, making adjustments right
in the middle of the game. At home
he can tell me what happened in a
game, why we won, what fell apart,
what I should try next time. Also he
is my recruiter, he will look for talent
for his team without ever worrying
about his position. He is constantly trying to make his team better,
and this makes him better, he is not
afraid of rising to a challenge.
Do you feel that some Programs
in Youth Sports have lost sight of
what is important? If so, what are
three things that you see that are
done wrong and what can be done
to fix them?
Youth sports includes such a diverse
group of problems, and they probably
change at different levels of the game.
One problem I see is the lack of dedication to becoming a success. Parents
demand success for their kids without
teaching them where success comes
from. They want their kids to be the
best, they want to win all the games
but they really don’t want to put the
work in to be the best. Parents, and
even coaches will ask for less competitive games, or less competitive tournaments just to have a better chance
to win. I am the opposite; I want the
best competition, I want to see where
we stand up against the best. I am not
afraid to go back and put the work in
32 | Issue 2 - March 2015
to improve. Every time you go home
with a first place trophy it does not
mean you are the best, I don’t need
to be validated like that at the end of
a weekend I would rather know what
we need to do to get to the top. I think
because of my age and experience I
know there is nothing at the top but
the top so I am content to be in the
fight to get there.
The teaching would be the other big
problem. I think we need to teach
more fundamentals and try to develop a stronger work ethic. The pride
should come from the work you put
in, the team should matter more, the
ability to work together should be a
bigger priority. The truth is you can’t
be successful until you learn how to
lose a game, and we only seem to
focus on winning games at all cost.
Losing gracefully can only come
with the peace you have when you
know you did your best. Parents,
players act out a loss in many ways
but all of it is saying I did not do my
best. Treat the players as equals, develop the talen ] H\