Special Olympics...

I woke up early Saturday morning. It was the big day – a day we had been preparing for since October. I quickly got dressed and got ready. I got on the computer for a little bit to finish up a couple of last minute things. I kissed my wife and left the house. Today was Special Olympics of Nebraska’s State Basketball tournament. Soon I found myself in the lobby of checking our team in. I coach two teams from the same school. Both play 3-on-3, but we split the 9 kids into two teams.

One of my teams, the Eagles, is made up of a 12 year old, two 13 year olds, and a 14 year old. The older team, the Angels, is made up of 5 kids between 14 and 17. Both teams work extremely hard in practice, but the younger team is very talented and very quick, they just lack height while the older kids have height and an extended shooting range. Both of my teams are great and I enjoy coaching all of them.

We split them up by age because the younger kids are very lacking in height, so by including them on the team with the older kids we have to play against teams with high talent levels and older kids. We decided that by doing that it would give all the kids the maximum amount of playing time and the best competition level. It worked great for the Angels. They had two games and were able to win the first one by 6 and the second one they lost by 4. They matched up well in terms of height, talent, and were even close on aggression. They played so well and I was very impressed by them.

The downside was the Eagles. My kids played so well, but the bracket was problematic. We had to play back to back games. The first team we played was well matched in talent, speed, and even close in height. That game we pulled out by 4 in the end, but it was very close. The team we were against was very aggressive, but since they didn’t have any subs, they wore out in the end and we were able to take the lead. However, the problem came in the second game. We were matched up against the best team at the regional tournament. Its not that we didn’t want the competition, but this was just unfair. Our teams of kids under 15 went up against a team that had 3 men who were over 18, (one was 37 and his mustache was starting to gray) and a 20 year old woman. They had one player who was over 6 feet and shot a jump shot which would be the envy of many collegiate athletes. They were just an awesome team and our team, which has nobody over 5 feet tall, was completely overmatched. I talked to the directors and they apologized for the lopsided match-up and told me not to worry about the state games. In the end, both teams won second place, so I was very proud of their effort despite the poor match-up.

Well here we were, three weeks later and pumped up again. After checking in and attending the coaches meeting, I went back to my house to get the girls because they love cheering the team on and we didn’t have a game until 11. One bit of news was that one of the teams from the Eagles bracket had scratched. Unfortunately, it was the team that we had beaten at regional games. The Angels had some good match-ups, too.

At 11:15 we were back and warmed up. The Eagles were up first in back to back games, again. In looking at the bracket, it was very intimidating because both teams we faced were senior teams from their particular organizations. I had talked with the schedulers about this, but it was of no use as they said they couldn’t change things and they had grouped teams based on the ratings we sent in earlier in the year and not based on age. It ended up that because of how talented our younger kids were, they didn’t consider their age and matched them on ratings. In the end, our first game was getting ready to start. The team we were up against had a very strong big man who could not only drive to the basket, but could also do very good lay-ups. We put our little defender on him, which slowed him down, but didn’t prevent him from helping his team to a 26 point win. We were overmatched in this game, not only based on height, but also on talent. The other team was very well coached and they had obviously practiced a lot as they were able to execute passes that were very tough to defend and they were ready for our passes most of the time. In addition to that, they also had 4 different offenses and by the end, our poor kids were dragging.

The Eagles then had another game. This team featured a good shooter and a guy who was all over the court. He was speedy and had a good jump shot from about 10 feet. He would guard whoever had the ball and took away much of our penetration. We fought hard in this game, but with 10 seconds left, we were down by 2. I had made a few mistakes earlier in the game by not taking advantage of a mismatch, and our kids were dragging, but we still had a chance to win. I called timeout and drew up a little play with my finger on the floor. They went out to run it and the speedy kid just have well could have been in our huddle as he stepped up and picked off our first pass. I was bummed that we didn’t win, but was very proud of our kids for their effort.

Immediately following that, the Angels started their game (yes, back to back to back games coaching – I was beat). They went up against a school they had beaten at the regional games and they were ready. They had a tall guy who was automatic from under the hoop and a medium height guy who was good at mid-range shots, a great dribbler, and was very tough on defense. Our Angels jumped out to an eight point lead. I subbed in a couple of players and with our big man sitting on the bench they quickly matched our six points. We ended up getting one more basket and that marked that halfway point. I called a timeout and getting the kids a little breather. I sent them back out and it was close for a while with the teams trading scores. Then one of our guys caught the ball on the three point line, checked his feet, and then launched a bomb. It banked in and the crowd, bench, and even the kids on the floor erupted in cheers. After that, we quickly scored 4 baskets to the other team’s one. We have one kid on our team who has limited ability and wanted to try to get him a shot. We put him in and after 4 tries we got him a shot. Normally from his sweet spot he is automatic, but he was about 2 feet to the right of his spot and wasn’t able to hit it. We ended up winning by 6.

After that game, which ended at 12:45, we had another game at 3:20. In between our kids all sat around on the benches and my wife and I took the girls home for a nap. We ate lunch and got the girls down for a nap. Finally, it was time to go, so we got the girls up and got back to the school about 3:10. The kids were still waiting in the bleachers, but the head of the competition stopped me and asked if we wanted to play a little bit sooner. So we rushed to the other gym and started warming up. However, the referee was in a hurry and we were quickly prompted for the start. The kids were a little sleepy and it took a while to finally get them going. Unfortunately, the team they were playing was a very talented team. They had a tall guy who was good at the close shots and blocking shots. They had two guys who were quick, good dribblers, great defenders, and decent shooters. In the end, it was too much for our team. They would have matched up well with the Eagles, but our Angels just couldn’t cut it. Once they woke up, they played very well and I was very proud that even when they were down 30-8, they didn’t give up and kept trying. We were able to get everyone a shot and all but one scored at least two baskets. They had fun and we congratulated the other team before heading out for the day.

The kids did so well and I was very proud of them. A lot of teams quit when they are getting beat by more than 10. We’ve seen it in teams we were playing and teams that we watch. It is our policy if we are over 10 points ahead, we make sure to sub a lot and give the other team a lot of chances to get back in the game. Our kids play so hard and never give up and they are very good sports. In addition to that, they have a lot of fun. And isn’t that what it is all about?

One more thing - today has been designated by Special Olympics as the first day in a campaign to end the use of the "R-Word" in our common vocabulary. Such a derogatory term should never be part of our vocabulary and we need to make sure that we show the same love and respect to the less fortunate that we would want people showing us. This word has become an insult and it is the kind of term that cuts special needs kids to the core. Lets make sure this word is eliminated from our vocabulary and that we don't use our words to hurt others, even if it is just a casual comment.

But now, I’m back to my mission…