Hawk Talk: This is what it's all about
Finding the thing that matters most
It’s hard for me to say that this was a successful season for the boys. My brain knows that it was. Getting to the state semi-finals is an achievement. Placing ten players on the all-state teams is an accomplishment. Our second-ever Academic All-American is incredible. I know that I need to appreciate what we did.
But I also did not sleep for well over a week leading up to both our quarterfinal and semi-final games. I know I felt a knot in my chest for the last month of the season. I know that we didn’t get to our goal. And I blame myself.
Because potential is a funny thing.
A few years ago, on this very platform. I wrote about what it was like to join this team and how I made a vow to do everything in my power to make these players better. Since I wrote that, since I felt that, I’ve realized that more and more it’s the other way around.
I am a very different person from the one I was before this program. You can only talk about how important sacrifice, hard work, and brotherhood are for so long until it starts to change you.
We talk to the boys a lot about standards. We have expectations for them as a team and individually, but it’s not the focus of everything we do in practice. I would like it to be, but that’s because I’m an obsessive instructor. I don’t want to joystick my players; I want them to understand why things work. Everything we do starts with a simple concept that we enhance by adding different options and/or complications. That’s everything - how we warm up, drills, and our offensive and defensive systems. There are rules, but there are also ways to break them and stay in the system.
It may sound corny, but that’s also what working a day job is like. It’s what navigating the social landscape is like. It’s what everything…is like. Sports teach us so much that we don’t realize. It’s not always about winning, but it is always about doing the right thing.
I had a senior on my team get recruited to a top 5 Division Three school this past year. When I got the call that he got in and that he committed, I hung up, walked over to my lovely girlfriend, hugged her, and started crying. She had no idea what was going on, but I held her tight and I just said, “He did it. He did it.” over and over again. Her 10-year-old son was on the couch in the next room and ran over to ask why I was crying. And I had the joy of explaining to him that sometimes tears are happy and that his favorite player just committed to play for a great college. He smiled. I cried harder.
Before our first playoff game this year, I sat on the bench with said player and put my arm around him. I told him that story.
He said, “Really?”
“Yeah, man. I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks, Dev.”
This team has taught me to be the person that I needed when I was in high school.
To be a leader. A confidant. An example.
I am forever grateful.
#GoHawks.