Hey Go Team, Go, Go, Team!

Last Thursday I had the chance to go to a banquet honoring my former high school basketball coach. It was put together by a team mate of mine--Tish. We all had to think about and write about our favorite memories and she compiled them along with pictures into a nice book for him. He has coached for about 15 years now and just recently switched over to being the boy's head coach. So, this was to pay tribute to him for all he did for the girl's basketball program. He took a program that was basically non-existent where anyone who showed up to tryouts would make the team to one that was state champions and very well respected. I was on the team closer to the early years, unfortunately. But, I am still very grateful for those years and all that I learned. It was fun to go back and see everyone and hear about their families and kids. The amazing thing is that everyone is pretty much the same. Of course, I didn't know everyone because there were 15 years worth of people invited, but I was surprised by how many people I actually did know. Our coach always encouraged us to come back and support the teams after we left. So, I made it to a few games here and there right after I graduated. And then to the State Tournament games and the game when they won State Champs. And then when I did my student teaching back at my alma mater, I was able to teach almost the whole varsity team that year. So, of course, I went to most of their games. Our coach was always happy to see us no matter how long it had been and always invited us into the locker room with the team afterwards and would say things like, "this is what you helped build". I think that's pretty cool of him to include us all in the success of the team. A legacy isn't really made by two or three years and he was more than willing to share the glory with everyone involved.