Two teams, two championship games

I once again volunteered to coach Biddy Basketball for Eastern. I coached a 1st-2nd grade team with my friend Eric Thompson, and assisted my brother-in-law Jeremy with his 3rd-4th grade team.


Here I am with my assistant, Eric. I'm probably yelling one of three things: "Arms out," "Slide your feet," or "Get between your man and the basket!"



It was a great season for both teams. We both managed to get to the championship games. Unfortunately we lost two very close ones. My team played hard, but just couldn't get the ball to go in the hoop and we lost by just a few points. Jeremy's team gave it their all and wound up going to OT with a nice lay-up with just a few seconds left in regulation. The other team proved to be just a little too much for us in OT and we lost a close one.

It was a fun year, none-the-less. The kids improved throughout the year. I hope that's because they learned something from me. I still haven't had any calls for filling a coaching position in the Big 10...

Coaching Football

I had a great time coaching this year in the Eastern Thunder Youth Football League. Last year, I assisted on one of the an 8 and Under teams. I was excited to be asked to lead a team this year. The number of kids that came out for football was outstanding, and the League had need for a 3rd 8 and Under team.

I had a challenge in front of me, because my team was going to be a team comprised of first-year players. We would be competing against teams that played last year. One year makes a huge difference with these young kids.

I was able to select some talented players that I thought would give us a chance of winning a few games.

It was slow-going at the start of the season, teaching the kids the fundamentals and the basic objectives of the game. My brother-in-law was coaching the Red 8U team and asked if we could "scrimmage" each other before the season started.



What an eye-opener. We were so raw. They were like a well oiled machine. We fell for simple ball fakes, and had difficulty staying in position to make tackles. I knew the start of the season would be rough, but not this rough. We got in a few more practices and we were slowly getting the hang of it. My assistants, and a few dads did a great job of helping us all get through practices.

We started off the season with a Jamboree at the EGHS varsity football field. We played the 8U Black team (who won the championship last year). We gave up 4 touchdowns, and we scored once to get on the board. I was encouraged at how far we came from the scrimmage we had just a couple of days earlier.

We opened the regular season with a victory. We lost the next two by a combined 3 points. What a great teaching moment it was to show the kids that each play counts. We fell short on just a few plays because of lack of execution, and that was the difference in those games. We were pumped to play harder in our remaining games. We won the next 3.



My team had a few players that were play makers and really helped make a difference in the games, but as a whole we were playing much better as a TEAM. We were blocking better and we were tackling better as a team. Unfortunately we came up short against our bigger and stronger 8U Black team in the playoffs.

We finished 4-3 for the year. Not bad for a group of players that didn't know much about football just 3 months prior.

Thanks to my friend Eric Thompson for taking pictures of the team during the season! And thanks to my Assistants, Dann and Kris. It was a blast this year. I hope to do it again next year.



Until then, I will be spending the off season coaching Biddy Basketball and T-ball.

T-Ball here we come!

My son is going to be playing his first year of T-Ball this spring. I am proud to be coaching him as I take the helm of the Eastern Greene Youth Baseball T-Ball Pirates! This will be my first time coaching a T-Ball team, so I am excited much like Aaron is, to be a part of his team.

My first T-Ball team was the Pirates and so was my wife's. I naturally selected the Pirates to be my son's first team. Got to keep the tradition going you know.

I also put in a bid to be the league's team photographer so I am anxious to find out if I will be doing the photography.

A big thank you to the IU Credit Union for being a sponsor for our team.

Eastern Biddy Basketball

This year, as I did last year, I helped my brother-in-law coach a 1st & 2nd grade biddy basketball team at Eastern. Little did I know that I would end up being a head-coach for a 3rd & 4th grade team. I admittedly do no know that much about basketball, but with my brother-in-law (a real basketball man) at my side, I thought I'd give it a go. I am glad I did.

I had a group of really good boys who learned so much throughout the season. We started off good with three wins, but hit a rough patch and lost 3 in a row. The combined difference between the score of two of those games was just 3 points. We finished strong to end our season and headed into the tournament.

As the tournament began, we were playing like I knew we were capable of playing. Every boy contributed as we made it to the championship game in the tournament. In the semi-final, we were down 7 with just a few minutes to go. We tied the game with a ball that rolled around the rim (to build suspense, I guess) and finally went in with about 28 seconds to go. We pulled away in OT and advanced to the championship, where we lost to the undefeated champions.

It was a satisfying experience and I look forward to coaching again next year.