Fade Out Basketball... Fade in Baseball...

I am little sad about the then end of basketball season.  On Friday, the team won by 4. In Saturday's first game, the semi-final, we just could not get it going - the ball would not drop and we were beat again.  Relegated to the consolation game we faced the same opponent that we beat the night before.

In the locker room prior to the game the captain's told me that since it was their last game they wanted to just have fun.  "OK", I said and started 5 different players.  The boys won the quarter 15-2 and they never looked back.  The final score was 54-34.  We arrived back at Mathman H.S. feeling good about the season. Since the Varsity team was playing a game  I ran into the baseball coach and just like that my season changed to baseball.

Tomorrow, is my first day as a baseball coach and I am a little more confident about the sport even though I know that I must learn more about the game. I worry about the time commitment because there is no special neophyte's deal exempting me from practice.

I keeping thinking about my motivation for taking on these coaching responsibilities.  To be candid, I want to bring in a little more income to offset the families lost income.  I may earn a small stipend for coaching two sports.  But, I am also trying to position myself to help the boy's chances of playing ball next year.

I am also lucky. I learned in college how much I enjoyed sports, so much so I was prepared to get a degree in recreation to facilitate a role for myself in intramural college sports. In hind-sight that turned out to be a misguided endeavor except that I met Lisa while earning that degree.  Lately, I recalled the questions so many people asked me when they found out that I was getting a degree in Recreation Management: "Are you going to be a gym teacher?" or "Are you going to be coach?" Funny, how these are almost the same questions I was asked when I was getting that pure Math degree:  Are you going to be a math teacher?

I also answered these questions the same way:  No, No and No.

I am passionate about teaching math and I am always amazed when I learn something new - even if it occurs while teaching very basic Algebra topics. If only I had been focused and understood myself better when I was younger. Add coaching to the mix and I have accomplished two things that I never thought possible. I am working hard but consider myself lucky to be doing things that I love to do.