Since I graduated high school, only once have I lived in the
same residence for longer than a year. While I rarely changed zip codes I’ve
always been on the move; a journeyman’s mentality, a traveler at heart. Not the
traveler that traverses the globe like that of my brother, but a restless
spirit. Two months ago I began year two of my time at Otero Junior College.
While I again changed the home of my futon and bed, the office chair in McDivitt 201 remains
warm. The investment that Otero Junior College has made in me has allowed me to
continue my tenure here, and my investment in coaching and in young people
remains here at Otero as well. To say that last year as a team we faced our
share of trials would be an understatement. It seems that those closest to you try
to make the most excuses for your trials, and while I could lay our struggles on not
having kids I recruited, on replacing a beloved coach, on having a group with
conflicting personalities, or any other excuse, the bottom line is that the
successes or failures of any group begins with the person leading the charge,
hoisting the sword, and yelling the commands. If there is a lack of trust or
respect for the leader, or a lack of preparation by the leader, failure is
likely. My biggest mistake came with the assumption that individuals who
compete at this level automatically invest themselves fully in the cause. I
have come to learn that the mentality that I possess is rare. If I choose to
involve myself in something I take it to the limit. Not only is a highly
competitive nature not common among athletes, concepts such as love, truth,
responsibility, and unity are not as common as I would like to believe. Because
of that I have learned that such things must be taught, not just spoken about.
They must be emphasized daily, and most importantly, they must be shown.
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| The Brand New Gym Floor at Otero |
I began last year with six sophomores. By the end of the season
I was down to four. Of the sixteen that sat in uniform for our first game a year ago, only
six of those will don an Otero jersey this November. In our final meeting of the last season I told my returners
that my job as a coach was to find athletes better than they are. I made it
exceptionally clear that despite our 17-10 regular season record, it was not
good enough. With that I spanned the globe for the best athletes for my first
recruiting class. Recruiting is both exciting and unnerving. At the junior
college level especially, your season’s success rests greatly on the athletes
you bring in right away, whether they are transfers or freshmen. In the end, I
brought in fourteen new athletes. Six of them are played in the Colorado All-State Games, two others traveled across the ocean to get here.
I have a girl from Spain and
another from Hungary. I hadn’t spoken with either of them verbally until they
arrived on campus. One I had corresponded with via email, while the other I
worked solely through her agent. The first words I heard Celia (pronounced
Thalia), my young lady from Spain, say was, “You speak fast.” While this is my
second season at the helm it is still a season of many firsts. As I sat in my office preparing for our first team meeting
of the 2013-2014 year I felt I was much more anxious than I did last year. I
didn’t need to reinvent myself, but I did need to establish my teaching
philosophies with my first words. Minutes before I was to walk across the gym
up to our meeting room I thumbed randomly through the Bible in hopes of an
affirming word. While this is not the most ideal practice for gaining insight
from God, the point of my finger landed on Judges 3 verses 25-28. Judges 3
tells the story of Ehud who was raised up to deliver the children of Israel
from Eglon the king of Moab. Ehud thrust a dagger into Eglon which led to the
Israelites overtaking Moab. The commentary by Jon Courson reads that, “If you
aspire to any kind of leadership, be like Ehud. ‘Follow me,’ he said because he
was a man who knew the power of the Sword and used it effectively.” I hold the
sword of leadership. I have to yield it in a manner that will both strengthen
us and empower us. Yield it in a manner that will unite us. Again, last year I
left much to assumption. As to not fall into the same trap I created a specific
team philosophy and directly relayed to my athletes my purpose of why I’m here
and why I want to a part of their lives. In preparation for teaching the culture
of our program and teaching how our program needs to be represented I created four laws for our
team: Love, Truth, Responsibility, and Unity.
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| The Four Laws of Otero Women's Basketball Team |
We act in Love; We speak Truth; We possess Responsibility;
We keep Unity. Within these concepts are the embodiments of everything I want
from a team. As I detailed what these laws truly meant I recalled the time I
spent over the summer with my brother, sister-in-law, and little
niece. I haven’t seen them in three years as they’ve been living overseas in
Taiwan. My baby niece is less than a year old, and despite the fact that it was
only a matter of weeks ago that was able to see her baby blue eyes in person, I
couldn’t help but feel a deep, and overwhelming love for her, that I would do
anything to protect her, that I would invest everything I have in her if she
needed it. When I invest myself in something I invest everything I am. With my
athletes the sentiment is the same as with my niece. If I can help them, be
there for them, mentor them, help them become better in any way, I want to be
there. The first law is love and their charge is to love one other. The second
law is that of truth. There was once a time when a man’s word was his bond.
Where contracts were never signed, because if someone said they would do
something it happened, if a question was asked the true answer was given. In a
culture that lacks accountability, and in a society where an individual is
advanced based on how well they can talk themselves in an out of situations the
spoken truth is a foreign concept. Like love, the truth is sometimes hard to
say and hard to face. Love isn’t always easy, and the truth is sometimes not
what an individual wants to hear, but for success, for growth, and for unity
truth must be the basis of all we do. To possess responsibility is rare. There
are so many distractions that can overcome an individual. The constant
stimulation from media and the constant expectations from everyone in their
lives can be overwhelming. To be responsible embodies a lot of work for a young
student-athlete. They have a responsibility to their professors to be in class
on time, to be attentive, to turn in their homework on time and to do it to the
best of their abilities; they have a responsibility to their coaches and
teammates to be at practice on time, to be intense at all times, to learn and
understand concepts and philosophies, to work to better their game; they have a
responsibility to their families to call home and to maintain a relationship; they
have a responsibility to their friends to stand by them and be accountable for
them. All of these things can weigh heavy on a young person. There is so much
going on in the life of an 18 year old that we as adults and mentors often
forget the pressures that keep them up at night. We as coaches though can’t
simply tell them to be responsible, we have to teach them how to be responsible
and ways to maintain responsibility and be successful at what they do. Lastly,
they have to live united. Unity is not a simple task. To find a way to unite
individuals who have never met each other, to get them to live a cause and to
rely on one another, to defend each other, to do what’s best for the whole not
best for the part is a process and not an instantaneous lifestyle.
Self-sacrifice and reliance on others are concepts that are very foreign to
many individuals. Nevertheless when life is hard, which it often is, they need
people to stand with them and care for them and lift them up. Too many people
are alone in this world. One day there may come a time when you need to make a
phone call at 3:00 am needing someone to come to your aid; do you have someone
to call that you know will answer and be there at a moment’s notice? These are
the laws of our program. With them success isn’t guaranteed, but without them
it does guarantee failure.
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| Teaching the team about time management |
As I finish writing this entry we are only on the brink of getting started. Much like I entered my first meeting with
an entirely new sense of direction and purpose I am doing the same with the
season: a different preseason, a new offensive system, new defensive concepts, and a more
precise philosophy. Week one of our preseason was four days long and resulted
in four different piles of vomit from athletes. There has been a sprinkling
here and there since then, but I feel that it is going to make us tougher,
stronger, faster, and quicker. With 22 athletes still fighting for roster spots
things will look drastically different by the time I write again. By then we
will be in the midst of scrimmages and trying to figure out how good we are, and how far we have to go.
Until then,
-
Coach Kyle
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