Lesson Learned From a Hall of Fame Coach
This episode talks about a lesson that I learned from a Hall of Fame basketball coach that I had the honor of coaching with. In his last seconds of his coaching career he did something that I will never forget!
What's going on everybody? I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. It was the high school boys basketball Final Four. In the seconds were ticking away off the clock. I watched our head coach bend down and talk to our team with one last set of instructions. My name is Brian Martin. I'm a second grade teacher and hosted the teaching champions podcast. The head coach bent down to star player to give him some last second advice. Now watch this man who had once been my elementary teacher, who had been my high school basketball coach who would later become my teaching mentor, and who would welcome me onto his basketball staff. And I watched him give advice that I would never forget. Just see, this man was coaching his last game as a high school coach. He had won two state championships, he had been the seven Final Fours. He was the all time win winning us boys basketball coach and Western New York. And he had already been inducted into the New York State Athletics Hall of Fame. In this was going to be his last few seconds as a coach after spending his last 40 years coaching at some capacity. And every coach dreams of going out on top of drawing up that last second play to win at the buzzer. But today, there wasn't going to be any fairy tale ending. And as the last few seconds of his coaching career came to a close, he would have one final act, one gesture that summed up who he was and what his coaching career was all about. And there's those seconds ticked away. And he looked down the bench. He saw star player visibly upset. And if you've ever been around high school athletics, you know how passionate the young athletes are about their sport. And that passion only increases for these athletes, the deeper they go in the playoffs. And the young athlete at times can have a hard time controlling their emotions, especially when they know that their high school career is coming to a close. That can be extremely hard. In this game being a Final Four game. It was hard fought, it was physical on both sides. And with each passing second, the player was becoming more upset. And the head coach used his last few seconds as the coach to bend down and talk to his player. He didn't draw up last second play. He didn't get lost in the fact that this was his last moment doing something that he loved something that he dedicated over 40 years of his life to he use this moment to stay true to who he was and what he believed his purpose was. He bent over. And he talked to all the players about how they carried themselves that you always show sportsmanship that you show respect that you stay humble and victory and gracious in defeat. And he made sure that those young men showed the respect that was due and that they walked off the court with their heads held high. And while it wasn't the ending that he had hoped for the any of the team and hope for it was an ending that summed up all of who he was. And it contained a valuable lesson for me. Because at the end of the day, sometimes the greatest gift that we can give to those we serve is to be there to celebrate them in those great moments, but to also be there to walk them through the tough moments to guide them. To nurture them and to help them become who they were meant to be. Coach, thank you for all the great memories and helping me become a better person. We've been blessed with another sunrise. Have an awesome day.
