Everybody Needs a Hype-Man!
4) A recent personal experience in why great *coaching/teaching matters
(*A great Coach is also a great teacher!)
I play in a weekly pickup basketball league with guys anywhere from 40-62 years old. We are all pretty much middle aged guys playing four-on-four half court basketball games, where we keep track of scoring through 1 point shots and 2 point shots. The first team to 7 points wins no matter what!
Winner stays on, the loser has got to wait their turn. Sometimes there are two half-court games going on so it’s not as big of a deal losing. But, if there is only one game going on, and an odd number of people are playing like say thirteen guys, you might have to wait two games to get the next game. This is exactly what happened to me the other night.
When I was younger, waiting for the next game was maddeningly boring, because I had energy to burn off and desperately wanted to play. Now that I’m older, this is even worse, because if I don’t stay warm, my joints* get tight, and I start to feel really old really quick.
Now that I’m 40, I don’t feel like I’m 40. Rather when I’m playing, and I feel really good, I feel like I’m 30. And when I feel really old and rickety, I feel like I’m 50. So if you break it down, my actual age still comes out to be 40 on average.
*Ever since I had surgery on my shoulder last summer (2021), due to a torn labrum and arthritis, I have had to be more conscious and focused on making sure my shoulder feels right and is properly stretched out and isn’t exerted or put through unnecessary stress (like sleeping on it). All those years on the high school wrestling team (7th-12th grade) and then cardio kickboxing in my late 20s/early 30s, really did a number on it.
So as this night of basketball was coming to a close, it was getting late, and most of the guys left. I was chomping at the bit by this point just to get into one final game, as there were only eight of us left. The winning team versus four left-over guys. Actually it was more like the winning team, and one guy from the losing team, who was excellent in a valiant effort in defeat, and then three left over guys, (me being one of them).
The excellent player in defeat was my friend Scott. One thing about Scott, is he loves challenges. He relished this moment to shine and pull our team together. He was so hyped actually, he guaranteed a victory against our much more talented opponents.
My thinking was:
#1 - I just want a good run, since I hardly played tonight.
#2 - I love playing with Scott! If there is a clear and obvious alpha-male on the court, I’m following him, because unfortunately leadership is in short supply, and in basketball in particular, without good chemistry or a good structure in place, a lot of dudes play like chumps.
#3 - Sh*t! Scott is guaranteeing victory and yapping it up, this is going to be a really good game!
Next thing you know, the game starts, and I lost the guy I was defending, and he got an easy lay-up on a backdoor cut. Scott, masterfully called me out without calling me out shouting “Guys, you can’t fall asleep and lose your man!”.
At that point, the game instantly got 20% more intense for me. All the other games I played that night, I was maybe only operating at 60-70% capacity. At the start of this game, I was probably at 90% capacity. Yet now that I made the first key mistake, and we were down 0-1, I was determined to make Scott look like a prophet, and do everything in my power to ensure our victory.
From then on I was running at 110% capacity. This thing was now like a championship game for me! If we were going to lose, I was going to make sure we were going down swinging!
Again on paper, the odds in this game really weren’t in our favor. The other team had two dead eye shooters and a good under-sized post player, and one guy that was 6’8! The fact that we were legit, one star player in Scott and three under-sized power forwards, made this matchup look even more lopsided.
But, what our team did was just crash the boards, making sure we out-hustled our opponents on every play, where even if there was a 60% chance the other team should get the loose ball, we took it to them and stole that damn ball!
Their big man on the other team was clearly a big dude. Scott played him tough, and we tried to help out and double him whenever we could. He would quickly tire playing down low, as he was being played really physically.
You might wonder why big guys get tired of playing down low. Here are two compelling reasons:
1- The only way any of us short people could stop a guy like him is by playing him tough. (Meaning, other guys would cry foul on certain plays that big guys just don’t).
2- Big guys bleed just like the rest of us.
Seeing the way “The Big Man” plays in our pickup basketball league, reminds me of why Shaq sometimes would get disengaged in NBA games.
In these games, there are dudes that complain a lot about fouls. For those of us that play a bit of pickup basketball, we all know them, all too well! As for this big guy, he only calls fouls when it’s really egregious. He’s also someone that actually likes to play out on the perimeter more. He is quite a skilled player with a deft shooting touch. In some ways this skill of his backfires, because his teammates would be better served if he just planted himself down low and continued to post-up on the low block. But, I get it!
Also, when the big man was playing defense, Scott was smart by dragging him out to the perimeter, and allowing his three teammates a better chance at cleaning up on the boards.
For me, who is not a tremendously skilled player, (but with a low center of gravity and a wrestling stance) banging bodies and going for the rebounds goes to my advantage, even though I am short. But to a lot of guys it’s just not fun.
In a league like this, I sometimes have to make some adjustments, as the tough and physical style of play is often more suited for younger guys, and I have been told once or twice that my tough defense is not appreciated.
When it comes to my offensive game, I’m a streaky shooter. I have a pretty decent long-distance shot, but sometimes it just doesn’t fall. During this game, I was the clear #2 offensive option, when typically during these contests, I’m typically the third or fourth option on my team.
So what did Scott do? He empowered the friggin 'heck out of all of me throughout the game. He encouraged me to shoot whenever I had a clean look, and I drained one long-distance shot right in my defender’s mug.
Even though we were initially down 3-0 and then 6-2, we ended up winning this game 8-6!
The dude who was the most down on our chances, who Scott needed to talk up the most out of all our teammates, actually hit the game winning shot at the top of the key! Straight swish!!!
My two biggest takeaways from this game were:
1- Wow Scott really coached everyone up!
2 - Everyone needs a hype man!
In reality, empowering others is a special skill that all of us have. We just need to tap into it. Scott clearly has developed this skill more than many people I know or even met. Part of what makes us human is the fact that most of us have a lot of skills that are really useful and can go a long way. Yet, we often don’t realize we have these skills. That or we aren’t always fully conscious of the skills we have, and don’t do enough of the deep work to continue to be developing these skills.
I’m not sure if there is anyone that is realistically empowering of themselves and/or others 100% of the time. If you know of anyone that is, please introduce me to him or her.
And no, I’m not talking about “Hopeless optimists'', that's just hokey!
I’m talking about people that really inspire greatness in others. Those are some really special people, who have the courage to stand out and bring out greatness in others and themselves.
I have had some great Coaches in my life. Thanks for the reminder :-)