I am a first year coach for 3rd grade rec basketball this year.
So there are try-outs, consisting of dribbling to the basket, shooting 2 layups and one free throw, passing to someone, receiving a pass and shooting another layup. It lasts for 20 seconds for 1 kid. There are fucking 140 players. Needless to say, I am at a big time disadvantage since a lot of these kids have played for several years and these coaches have watched them play for several years and know a lot about these kids. I am standing listening to the other coaches joke around about this kid and that kid.
So, we are able to freeze up to 3 kids on your team. That is one strike against me because i don't know any of these little shits. So I keep my kid, who is one of the worst on the team. Yeah...that is strike 2.
So come draft day, I have my list and since I have frozen my allstar, I get a 2nd and third round pick before a lot of other teams get any of their picks. The bad news, is I have to pick these kids based on the 20 seconds I saw them run. So, I am feeling pretty good about my first 2 picks...I get my highest ranking guys. haha...suckers is what I think...And now its everyone's time to pick. And I get my 3rd ranked guy, and 4th ranked guy, and 8th ranked guy, and 12th ranked guy. Why the fuck is everyone picking guys that I have rated in the 50's??? Yeah...Strike 3...
So, we have 1 hours to practice before our first game. One. Hour. And we are playing the team that won it all last year. For the first, and only hour, I have to practice, I have to figure out who is going to play where and set up a defense.
Game time Saturday. They fucking half court trap us. My guys freeze up like hell and can't get it past the time line even close to the basket. I call a time out and try and let the guys know how to break it, but Academy was sold out of the clip boards that have the basketball court on them, and that's hard as shit to do without actually showing them where to be during a timeout.
At the end of the first quarter, we were down 14-0. At the break, I went out on the floor and showed them where to go...physically each one. We finally break the press several times and they have to fall back in zone. We played them decent from there on out. Only losing 28-12. They beat a team in week 2 42-0. I shit you not...
Second game, played the other team in finals. We lost 21-14, but we played decent. Next game, we lost 12-10 and should have won. I think we shot the ball probably 25 times to the other teams maybe 10. Seriously. And they were good shots, just nothing fell.
So this week...I put in a full court trap press in my hour. We can full court press in the 4th quarter, and I plan on doing it no matter what. We have a tournament at the end of the year and I think we can still make a run. I am a damn good coach you know. Despite the 0-3 record...