I've been on the road a lot the past couple weeks, mainly up north on basketball and job related trips. It's been great to meet new people, see old friends and brothers, and to just get away and be productive away from home base. Coaching at the high school level allows you a little bit of time now and again when school's out for break and practice schedules are scaled back. The trips I've made have all been well worth it, it's an exciting time of year.
While I was on one of these ventures, a college coach asked me, "So why do you want to coach at the next level?" Fair question. I don't think I gave a bad answer. I've grown up in this game, and I can't imagine not being around it virtually every day as I have been for so many years. I don't talk the talk, I walk damn it all, I literally was working out 360 days out of the year during my high school and college careers. It's what made me successful. These days, I'd say I average 4-5 days on the court per week, key word there is average. It's funny how a lot of people think they are in love, but they have no idea what love is. My answer continued with how much I enjoying coaching, how much I love sharing this great game (or great games, I should say with soccer) with others. I probably also mentioned the need for a full time gig, and I want that to be in this business, having tried my hand in television for a couple years and coached part time. It's the honest quick answer I gave.
But I have to say, for the past week or so, watching the men's and women's NCAA Final Four, man has that question lingered. What is the one thing that sets being a coach apart from everything else? I think for all coaches, our answers are different. I mean hey, there's a lot to love, and it's hard to pick one.
I'm not sure what game was on when it hit me though. I realized what it is for me, that makes me love this as much as I do. As the two teams were lining up to shake hands at the end of the game, I want to say it was the Notre Dame-UConn Final 4 match up, seeing the celebration and happiness on the winners' faces, that look of accomplishment, it really hit me. I coach because to me, there's no greater feeling than the one you have after a hard fought victory with a team of individuals who have sacrificed, worked harder, and executed to be in a position to win a big game. There is no greater feeling than that for me, because when you give yourself to a game, invest emotionally and mentally into a team, the payout of success is the sweetest thing you could get in return.
I could pick my fair share of moments like that, as a player and a coach. I've been very blessed thus far. Perhaps my favorite memory was February of 2011, at VCU's Siegel Center. I was the top assistant at Cosby High School at the time, and we had just won our 3rd consecutive Dominion District Championship. Tonight though was the big showdown, the Central Region Championship, and as we vied to set a record with our 3rd consecutive Central Region Title, a very good Thomas Dale team featuring their own college talent stood in the way. It had been a hard few weeks for me personally, as my grandmother was on the last leg of her battle with a degenerative brain disease better known as Dementia. At times, I was going from the hospital to practice, and back to the hospital, and while I've lost plenty of people close to me over the years, seeing a loved one lose that battle and deteriorate is not easy, ever. She lost the battle and was laid to rest the day before the game.
We were focused and the preparation was very strong. Our kids played well and didn't allow a field goal in the final 6 plus minutes of the game to help us pull away with the victory. Man, what a great feeling that was, standing at mid court of the Siegel Center raising that trophy high with what felt like the whole world watching. It's one of those moments that you don't remember specific details because you're so psyched and it happens so fast. But no one can take it away from you, and the memories of the people you made that journey with stay with you. What greater feeling can there be?
So what is your feeling? It's not the same as mine, but we all have that one thing that takes us to another level. To me, winning is always the goal, but since no one's goal is really to lose, at least not often, then we are all striving for the same outcome, even though we can't all attain in. The Bible discusses it in 1 Corinthians 9: 24-27, one of my favorite verses that I learned through basketball. If you earn the chance to be a winner though, what more is there to celebrate. Let's face it, success is earned, even if the price varies.
Find your feeling. Maybe there's no wrong answer to the question why, but there can be one right one at the same time. When you live in your own reality, and make your reality the strongest, you will get to that place more often.
In closing, today would have been my fraternal brother Bobby Thomason's 26th birthday. There isn't a day that goes by that you're not on my mind, but today even more so brother, and I hope I can be a little greater today than any other day for you. I've lost other friends in the past 5 years or so, and even another brother, and through losing these people I challenge myself everyday to be a little bit better because God has given me the chance to for whatever reason, while others were called home. It's His plan that we are living out, and that gives me hope. So happy birthday Bobby. I'm sorry brother, and we miss you.
Never Quit.
-Travis (BT)
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