My First Season

My first season as the coach of the Central Oregon high school team has come to an end. It's safe to say it was a very successful season!

We finished the season 13-3.

We became the undefeated South league champions. 

We beat a prestigious Portland team for the first time.

We won the first playoff game in program history. 

Seven players earned All-League honors. 

And we learned a lot. Both players and coaches. 

Despite an enormous amount of on field success, we faced a lot of challenges off the field. Establishing a new program, new norms, new rules, and a new blue collar culture is difficult. We went through many growing pains, but in the end it was worth it. Throughout the season, I've learned over and over again that when you least expect it, players will surprise you in the absolute best of ways. 

This lesson proved to be true when one of my players asked to meet at a coffee shop and chat one afternoon. Although she was one of our best players, her negative attitude had me concerned she would quit. I had tried everything with this player; excessive encouragement, strict rules, stern discussions, and finally I was out of ideas and just left her alone. 

And that's when I got the invite. 

We sat on a coffee shop patio and with tears in her eyes, she explained that for the first time in her life, she had a coach that made her believe in herself. I was shocked.  The problem wasn't that she was disinterested. It was the exact opposite. She had become so invested in the program, she was at a loss on how to handle this newfound accountability. 

This was one of my favorite days as a coach. Watching this player's transformation was very rewarding. A few weeks after this discussion, the player was named All-League. 

I'm very proud of the success my team experienced this season. However, I have been feeling discouraged after our second round play-off loss. We were beat by a group of better athletes. I can't stop thinking about what I could have done differently. I continue to revisit our pre-season practices and wonder if I ran the girls hard enough. Or if I should have played against them more often to challenge them. Or if I pushed them hard enough to complete with such athleticism. 

Feeling low and as though I had let my girls down, I was surprised once again by a player. 

As I was doing some research on recruiting websites last night, I stumbled upon one of my player's profiles. It listed all of the usual information; position, accomplishments, stats, and interests. As I scrolled through her interests, I saw the question "Who is your favorite player?". I was in complete shock when I read her response, "Polly Purcell".  

I'll never actually be able to put into words what that response means to me.

But, I do know that I could lose a million play-off games and just knowing that I'm making a difference to my players will always  be the pick me up that I need. 

In the end, this has been one of my most challenging, soul searching, exhausting, successful, and rewarding seasons of my life. 

Everything a season should be.