Memorable

Some of us here have experienced over fifty years of basketball, beginning with "Camp Driveway" (my first hoop was on a plywood backboard nailed to a tree). I pretended to be Sam Jones beating the buzzer...3, 2, 1, annhhh. 


On our journeys, we shared experiences with friends and teammates, knew "epic" wins and losses, tears of joy or sadness; and injuries - concussions, dislocated fingers, sprained ankles, ACLs, and bruised egos.  

My friend, Neal Caplan, and I would play 1-on-1 in his driveway or mine. He took an endless ration of crap at school for his green sneakers. Tom Phoebus pitched a no-hitter against the Red Sox during his Bar Mitzvah (April 27, 1968).

The Celtics dispatched the Lakers in the 1968 NBA finals. 'Twas ever so. 

I put masking tape on my glasses (similar to above) to cure the habit of looking down while dribbling. A tennis racquet duct taped to a step ladder became a contested shot. Hand in the face? How about tennis racquet in the face? 

We played a freshman game at a gymnasium so cold we had to wear coats on the bench. You could easily see your breath. I made three bank shots. The coach asked, "were you trying to do that?" Sam Jones...

Some of you remember the scoreboards of the era. 

From Tom Peters, www.excellencenow.com. "Sweat the small stuff." Small things leave big impressions. I got to pick up Doug Collins at the airport to take him to Sam Jones' camp. Doug said that he had small hands and couldn't palm the ball, but learned to flex his wrist enough to trap it between his hand and forearm. 

Sometimes, it went well. 

How we praise a player matters. You all know Carol Dweck's Mindset research, where students performed better through praise of effort than praise of results. 

Judge A. David Mazzone is well-known in Massachusetts for his ruling leading to the Boston Harbor cleanup. Judge Mazzone took time to bring me to a college interview, facilitating college admission. "Little things make big things happen." - John Wooden

You remember the time a coach praised your effort, getting a loose ball or playing shutdown defense.

Sometimes it goes really well. 

Our conversations impact players on three levels - cognitive (I understand you), emotional (I feel you), and motivational (I want to help you). We never know the impact of a small kindness, just as "from tiny acorns mighty oaks grow."

As we go to help youngsters along their basketball journey, remember that we're making memories. How do we make them feel?