Hardwood Happenings

This week in the spirit of Valentine’s Day I will attempt to explain what my wife goes through during a season. First of all my wife, Carmen, has no idea that I am blogging about this subject. Carmen and I have been married for 17 years in August and she has had to endure 17 seasons of basketball and also several years of baseball when I coached that as well.

I am going to be honest, I really don’t know how she does it — especially since we have had two kids and all the demands that they require.

A lot of people who are not real familiar with basketball don’t realize the time element involved. I am sure some people think that we show up on game nights, coach and go home. Just ask Carmen; she can give you a pretty accurate picture of what all is involved. She would tell you that it is not just a October to March deal — it is 12 months with the exception of the two week dead period.

My wife is a third grade teacher who takes her job just as serious as I take my coaching job and puts countless hours into her job. So not only does she have to do her job at a high level, she has to make sure everything is taken care of with the kids and everyday household tasks.

There are a lot of days I have practice or a game or scout a game that they are in bed when I get home. We often communicate through e-mail just to find out who is picking who up and who has practice and what is for dinner and all those things because we don’t have time at home. She keeps the house clean, clothes washed and makes sure the kids have completed homework or if they have special needs for school the next day.

Did I mention that she also tries to support my program and stay on top of our season? I can remember in 2003 when we won the 12th region Championship for the first time is school history the first face I saw was my wife and tears of joy, she understood what it meant to me and was more happy for me than anyone in that gym. She was also there the year before when we lost a heartbreaker in the region finals and she sent my then 4 year old son over to the bench and he simply asked me, with his lip quivering “Does this mean we are not going to Diddle?” For some reason that sent a sense of peace over me and all I could do was smile at him and tell him we will be back next year and we will go to Diddle.

It truly takes a special person to sit around and listen to me gripe and complain about a bad day, practice or game. It takes a special person when I am home and the phone rings off the hook and it is all concerning basketball. It takes a special person when I tell her that practice is over at 5:45 and that I will be home to eat supper and something comes up and I get home about 7:00 and they waited for me to eat. It takes a special person when the season is over and I am so tired that all I want to do is come home and sleep and knowing she has had events happen in her day that she would love to talk to me about but my mind is not there.

If you are going to coach you better have a special someone at home who is going to be there everyday, good or bad! I have been lucky to have that special someone.

Until next week, keep your head up and shoot with confidence!!