I'm (Re)tired

Last Tuesday marked the final game of my coaching career. Over the past nine years, I've coached around 40 basketball, street hockey, soccer, and baseball teams at Garfield, making me both the winningest and losingest coach, I'm sure, in Garfield history.

My 5th grade girls basketball team made it all the way to the semifinals this year, losing eventually on Tuesday by a score of just 7-3 to a truly horribly coached team from Fair Oaks where, it seems, they were taught simply to try and rip the ball out of people's hands rather than actually play defense. We had several really good shots that just rolled off the rim, so a little bit of bad luck entered into the equation as well, but the referees were very permissive of the other team's overly aggressive and completely ugly style of play. How ugly? Imagine a game with something like 20 jump balls - yikes! And imagine their players, their hungry eyes on the ball, arms outstretched like a bad caricature of Frankenstein's monster, making no attempt to play any sort of defense and just grabbing and slapping at the ball every chance they could get.

I think, generally, I'm overly respective of rules and authority. The referees needed to call the game tighter, and I didn't say anything. I didn't want to complain in front of my kids, because, well, it's a 5th grade basketball game, and also I teach my kids to respect and not question the calls of the referee. But I really think I should have said something.

This marks the end of my coaching career at Garfield. Second place in street hockey and making it to the final four in girls basketball - not a bad way to go out.