With my last posting we sat at 6-0 and I was quietly looking to see who would emerge as our leader, our “swagger” player. In just over a month we are 14-5 and sitting at 13th in the country. By simply looking at record you might assume that we are peaking and playing quality ball coming into the start of the second half of conference play; while at times we have looked that exceptional, those times have been few and far between. Too often our wins have come simply because we’ve “out athleted” teams. Of our 5 losses, 4 have come at the hands of conference foes which means despite our national ranking we are wallowing in 5th place in the conference with only have a one game lead over the 6th and 7th place teams. It’s funny how losses stick out so poignantly in my mind. Dating back to my sophomore year of high school I can recall every single in-season loss I’ve suffered whether they were as a player or coach. Some of the most painful include the 10 point loss my sophomore year to ECA in the regional tournament, the overtime loss to ECA and 3 point loss to Jefferson Academy in the Final Four my junior year, the 8 point loss to Del Norte in the Final Four my senior year, our loss to St. Mary’s at home to clinch the league title my first year as head coach, our drubbing at Bayfield in our first regional tournament, the loss my second year to Dolores Huerta at Hoehne, the loss at Ellicott that same year just before the season ended, and of course the 4 point loss to Buena Vista in that years regional, my 3rd year coaching the loss to Trinidad in OT actually stands out the most despite the two State Tournament losses (should’ve fouled being up three). While that is just a brief list, as to my count I’ve accumulated 35 losses from my sophomore year playing through now (excluding my middle school coaching year, and my jv coaching here), I’ve learned a lot of hard lessons as a teacher and a coach throughout those. Whether it be x’s and o’s, preparation, team philosophies, the handling of situations and people, and lots of lessens regarding life values such as honesty, integrity, and pride. The overarching lesson though is that competition and leadership roles expose our greatest weaknesses, and often times we are not simply exposed within ourselves, but to the world. With that it is not a matter of hiding, covering, or brushing over those weaknesses, it’s how we react to them, and if we are willing to embrace them so that from them we can grow. Perhaps one day I’ll blog about the details of some of the lessons along that hard road. I do thank the Lord for the great support throughout it all, and for the many of you who helped me learn in times of my greatest hardships.
To keep this from turning into a depressing, philosophical rant, I'll transition to one of the greatest delights of the season, which came just after Christmas as we traveled to California to play in a tournament at Biola University in Anaheim, CA. I’m going to briefly allow the child in me to run rampant as I say that Disneyland was the coolest thing ever! This was my, as well as many of the athlete’s, first experience there. We made that the priority stop on our first full day (and only day without games). A group of our varsity kids and one of my jv kids let me tag along with them all day. At times my role definitely transitioned from coach and person in charge, to friend having a great time, and even onto, as much as I don’t want to admit it, the annoying brother. Three experiences stand out above the rest, the first coming in the seat of one of the large roller coasters that was in Adventureland. One of our group members, Courtney, has an unexplainable fear of roller coasters to the most immense degree. She refused to ride anything more extreme than the kiddy coaster in Toon Town (which for the record was still fun!). Along with her, Josey and Taz both had the fear, but wanted to prove to themselves they could do it. Because an odd number of people were going on the coaster I sat by myself in my coaster car right behind Josey and Taz trying to calm their shakes. Before the coaster took off, a little 12 year old girl plopped herself next to me in the car. She very excitedly informed me that this was her 5th time that day on the coaster and she was by herself because her parents didn’t want to go on it. Her unwavering confidence made Josey and Taz look like the 12 year olds (the braces the little girl still smiled with was the clincher). After that my two girls had little trouble riding the coasters!
The day we were at Disneyland was exactly one week before the Rose Bowl, so as we walked the Disney streets, we saw the football teams of Wisconsin and Oregon throughout. All were sporting official Rose Bowl gear and the girls were rather enamored with the new “site seeing” that became available. We were headed out of the park to go get some dinner when Alicia ran into a family member, so the rest of us waited while the two of them caught up. As we stood nearby, Frankie and Cami, two of our forwards, caught the eye of a couple of Oregon players. As I reread this I don’t know if it was the girls who caught the guy’s eyes or the other way around (of course Frankie tells it as though her and Cami were getting checked out by these DI football studs), but Frankie asked if they could take a picture with them. The Ducks obliged, and there was no need for me to tell them, “Say Cheese!” because the cheesed faces the girls showed for the rest of the night was more than enough! Of course the final scene of the story came after we got back when Frankie came to practice the day after the Rose Bowl absolutley excited because she actually watched the two guys play in the on television. Girls….I’ll never understand.
The last part was the most amazing. Now, if you’ve never been to Disneyland then you won’t be able to grasp the full extravagance of this final tale. Because it was still the Christmas season, once darkness fell on the park, the land of Disney responded with some of the most indescribable Christmas lights to brighten the paths. At the entrance of the park stood a tree like none that I had ever seen, christened with more lights than Clark Griswold could dream of; it was epic. But as captivated as I was with the tree and the little city that was fully lit up, it was what the streets led up too, the essence of Disneyland: The castle. Standing in front of the castle, gazing at its wonder, a voice came over the P.A. announcing that the lighting of the castle was about to begin. It seemed as the though entire park began to slow as all the lights dimmed around us. The masses ceased to move as the whites of every eye stared in awe at the white lights that begat the castle walls. Time had stopped and the entire world had become frozen in time except for the living being that was the castle itself: The essence of purity, beauty, and holiness all wrapped up in one. After witnessing such an event I couldn’t help but consider the Kingdom of Heaven and think that despite the glory of Walt’s Kingdom one day we’ll see how it pales in comparison to God’s Kingdom.
If my awful trend continues we may be getting ready for playoffs by the time I write again. If that ends up being the case I intend to be telling you of our standing as the top seed going into the conference tournament and the plans we are making for the National Tournament in Sioux City, Iowa!
Till Then,- Coach Kyle
