Down By 50

Being down by more than 50 points at halftime, my hand was forced.  I was compelled to cut through all the bull-crap and shoot straight  with my team. 

“Guys… <long pause>…we are going to lose this game.        There, I said it.  But winning today’s game has never been our measuring stick.   Your job is to get better and to work towards a phenomenal senior season.  Your challenge today is to push through adversity and become better young men.    We will look back at this day in two or three years and smile.   We will remember the day we went into halftime, down by 50.  And whether we like it or not in this moment, it’s part of our journey.”

This was our worst possible matchup.  It wasn’t fair, even from the beginning.  The contributing factors originated in places far from the basketball court.   They just collided all at once on the hardwood two days ago.

Consider this:

I have only 2 guys that have ever played an entire season on a competitive basketball team.  They had 15 or more.  Most of our opponents have grown up playing for traveling “club” basketball teams, in addition to their school teams.

Over the course of the tournament, we didn’t have a single parent attend a game.  That afternoon, our opponent’s supporters filled 2 sets of bleachers, each six rows deep.

In large part our students attend Crawford by default.  Nearly 50% of their neighbors bus out to other schools in the district.

Our opponents all attended an elite private school where the academic rigor is high and the tuition payments are even higher.

As coaches, we transport every team member to and from away games.  We use the UrbanLife vans and gas, as the district expects parents to make it happen.   We wash their uniforms.  We feed them, whether PB and honey or Taco Bell, between games.   We drop them at their doorsteps.  Whatever is needed, we do it together.

“The good news is that God has given us another 30 minutes to play this great game of basketball together.   It’s a privilege.  Here’s the deal.  Nobody looks up at the scoreboard. In response, we are going to battle.  We are going to get better this half.  We are going to become stronger, more resilient young men.   Let’s surprise everyone watching by the way we compete until the final horn.   Let’s play as if we are down by 1 point the entire time.   Let’s stay positive the entire time.   Let’s play for one another.  I’m proud of you guys and I love you guys.  Let’s go battle!”

Despite the significant limiting factors, so much is possible.   We have 2-3 years to develop the players that I am working with on the junior varsity level.   For students, personal growth is ongoing.  Facing adversity on the court provides a context for me to mentor and teach some of life’s most important lessons.  It won’t happen in a vacuum or because of a canned curriculum.   Being involved in athletics (or any extracurricular activity) empirically increases the likelihood that students will go on to graduate and perform academically.   That’s been demonstrated in educational research.  Additionally, an entire school culture can be lifted by successful, winning athletic programs.  It’s not rocket science.  Teams that win give students something to celebrate, to be proud of.   It’s beginning to happen even now.  Our varsity team is 11-0 and competing in a tournament championship game tonight.

This has been the plan all along.   As Jake (UrbanLife Executive Director) and I coach at the local high school, it super strategic.  We meet new students every day.  We are placed in positions to mentor others.   And we are provided the chance to lift the morale of an entire campus, such that Crawford is not the “default” place to go. 

We lost by more than 80 points that day.

But we kept our chins up. 

Now, we are looking forward to a possible playoff matchup with that private school in 2014.