In 2010, I was the Assistant Coach at Mercer University for Women's Volleyball. For some of you reading this, that name probably stands out more than it would have a week ago as their Men's Basketball team just upset Duke in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the first time the institution has ever won a tournament game. A senior-heavy team, most of the players that led the team to victory today were freshman when I worked there. While they were eliminated by Tennessee yesterday, the way they played as well as the fan support they had made them the darlings of the media for 72 hours.
Let me tell you: to this day I vividly remember how their work ethic came off to me. Every moment we weren't in the gym it seemed like they were in there getting individual reps, and if they weren't getting those reps because the court was ours, they were in the weight room. There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't see them working hard. Years of those reps led to Friday's accomplishment, something bigger than them, a memory that will probably stay with them as one of the greatest moments of their life until the day they die. It was a beautiful moment to witness from a thousand miles away, and I couldn't be happier for them. A lot of memories flashed back as I watched them celebrate their victory, and I felt like it would be a good opportunity to write a little blurb about my experience at Mercer.
The reality is, and a lesson I try to teach every team I coach, is that 50% of teams will always lose, and they don't always have that storybook ending we love so much as sports die-hards - "It's not if you win or lose, but how you play the game" is a really nice way of saying "Sometimes you're going to do everything right and still fall short". Truth be told, the Women's Volleyball team at Mercer in 2010 didn't generate much press with their 14-18 record. However, what their accomplishments were from a distance couldn't properly describe what great players and better people they were.
I met the girls in February in 2010 - while the facilities were breathtaking to a person who was a year removed from playing for a team without a gym on campus, the thing that really stood out to me was the drive these girls had. Our team was talented, but not the biggest/most athletic from a Division I perspective, but they had INCREDIBLE heart. I've met with teams I'm interviewing to coach for, and know when they're asking questions because they're supposed to be asking. These girls had a genuine care for who was coming in to help them in their quest for success.
When I finally arrived to coach, we hit the ground running - although teams definitely got a jump on us. We were predicted to finish 8th out of 10 in our conference - which would have put us outside of the conference tournament. Our season started against a tough non-conference schedule, beginning the season 2-10.
Our girls didn't have that "go-to" physical outlier, the one that at 20-20 could tell her team "we got this, set me the ball and we'll finish this off", but we had depth that no other team had. After awhile, we recognized that while most teams had an advantage on us with their first or second options, we typically were deeper with our 3rd-5th hitters, and could find a mismatch to utilize by the end of the match if we just saw who was successful as the match progressed. This became our nitch, and we started gaining momentum, finishing the rest of the season 12-8 and making the conference tournament.
That may not have been the fairytale ending that we always dream of as athletes, but the reality is, those girls worked SO hard to get to that point - they pushed themselves and those around them every day, from 6 am weights all the way to when our last practice would conclude 12 hours later. They were selfless - it wouldn't be easy to ask 5-6 hitters to take 30 attempts one match and less than 10 the next, but we never had drama with players when it came to accepting whatever role they needed to take for the team to be successful. I was extremely proud for what those were, not what they didn't accomplish.
The reality is, while their record may not reflect it from a wins-losses perspective, I find that team to be one of the most successful ones I've ever had the privilege of coaching - they could have looked at the first half of the season and just kept falling - but they stayed determined to find a way to be successful, put the effort forth, and finished the season on a very respectable note.
If you know me, you probably know I'm a huge John Wooden fan - my blog is named after one of his mantras. I always appreciated his definition of success (Peace of mind which is a direct result of self satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable), but this was the first time I truly felt it.
I left Mercer and Division I that year - I simply couldn't afford all of my bills (While I was the only assistant, it was a GA position. Being 25 and naive, I believed the coach when she said I would have the time to work a part-time gig to pay my student loans, having no true grasp of what the administrative aspect would entail at this level as the only assistant). Looking back on it, it was probably for the best. While I cared a lot about the players, I didn't have a passion for spending only 20 hours in the gym with players, then another 80-90 in an office breaking down film and/or recruiting. I didn't like the politics of revenue vs. non-revenue sports, I didn't like the imbalance of student/athletics, and it was disappointing to me how little I felt those girls were appreciated for how much they accomplished compared to the expectations for them that year. I respect the attention to detail and passion coaches have to have to work at that level - I cared more about developing people both on and off the court, and felt like my personal goals for coaching didn't align with the culture that I felt Division I provided.
What solidified my decision was the political part of things - I gave the coach advance notice about my decision and helped get everything prepared for someone to take my place. However, she did not want to risk my housing spot being taken away and used for another sport, so she asked me to keep it private until the last minute. While my intentions were to respect the coach's request, I felt absolutely awful for the team that I had bonded with that season. I had to look my girls in the eye and tell them I was stepping down, and that I'd be out of town 18 hours later. I remember the looks on their faces as I delivered the news, and to this day it is one of the worst feelings I've ever had in my life.
It is good to have a competitive nature, but I learned from coaching that team that wins and losses don't always define the success teams have. A year removed from my senior year as a player, where my team started 16-1 and sputtered to a 24-13 record and first-round conference tournament elimination, I was reminded by a young group of girls that tough times don't last, tough people do.
So while everyone is congratulating Mercer's 2014 Men's Basketball Team - I'd like to give a little credit to their 2010 Women's Volleyball Team, a special group of people that will be successful in whatever professions they decide to dedicate themselves to.
No comments:
Post a Comment