The Here and Now

We had our first basketball game. And through no fault of my own, we won.
The score was quite close, yet still a victory.

However, it opened my eyes to something rather unsettling.
There is a lot more to this coaching thing than I had first thought.

After the first and second practice I was feeling good about the whole thing. We were running drills and throwing baskets like pros.

I had coaching under wraps.
There was nothing to be nervous about.
Or scared shitless of.

It was just coaching. Simple leadership. Shouting out some encouraging words. Cheering on the home team.

But you know what I learned, you actually have to know the rules the game.

And not just in the “get points and keep them from getting points” kind of way.

There are all kinds of things that are vital for a game.
Like,
When to pull players out and put players in.
What the zones are.
Setting up plays and strategies.

Knowing what happens after a foul.

This is bad. This is very bad.

There was a fair bit of staring into the headlights.

And now, a significant amount of research about the in’s and out’s of the game.

Anyone with sport-like background have any advice for a terrified pseudo-coach?



Now, on a not at all related issue, tomorrow is the day that opens up a new generation of educational, stuff.

Tomorrow is the Apple Computer Roll Out.
At 7 AM tomorrow morning skiffs of laptops will be pushed into my school and handed out to every Middle School Student.

Tomorrow everything will take on a much more technological feeling.
Needless to say, I am a bit nervous about this too. All of a sudden all of the age-old book-learnin’ will be thrown out the window, leaving only the cold gleam of shiny-tech.

My fear is a little weird. I am and have always been an advocate of computers and all that is electronic. I love the tech.
I am actually a bit fanatical about the tech.

But something about thrusting all this new-fangled thing-a mi-jigs on a student population gives me a slightly queezy feeling.

How many computers will crash tomorrow?
How many slimy kiddo fingers will slip and slide a laptop down to the ground?
How long will it take for a young hacker type to break through the proxy?
How many of the short and goofy will I need to talk to about appropriate computer usage.

How many other teachers will be knocking on my door with computer questions a-plenty.

It’s going to be a long day.