Is it worth it?
Have I told you that I’m a basketball coach? I’ve spent twenty years coaching. Ten years as an assistant with high school and middle school kids, and as many years with recreational teams. This however, was my first year as a Head Coach at the high school level, and let me tell you, it was a challenge.
I felt as if I had been dropped into a war zone. There was little time to prepare especially with my big learning curve on the paperwork side of things (In the past my role as an assistant had been to concentrate on the kids). I worked at a harried pace, searching for missing uniforms, organizing equipment and getting the word out about tryouts. After flyers and speeches and meetings and e-mails…I had 15 girls tryout. I was crushed. How could a school of 1000+, half of which are female, have so few girls that wanted to be a part of their school’s basketball program?
My assistant and I focused on the positive. We had enough for a team. Barely. We worked the girls hard mentally and physically, knowing that if they put the effort in, they would see results. If not on the scoreboard, in their heart and soul.
We started with a couple of big wins, but then came loss after loss. We still pushed. Sometimes they pushed back. Did they question our intentions? Why should they trust us? Would we give up on them? A few players gave up on us and we wondered if we would keep enough girls to have a squad? But we did, and the girls that […]
Forgotten?
It’s not that I’ve forgotten to write my blog, it’s just I’m afraid of it sometimes. Yes, you heard it, AFRAID. And honestly there’s not much I’m afraid of, but for some reason I’m afraid that I won’t get it right. The punctuation and grammar for one, which is not my forte’, but will I reach you, the audience. Will I get across the feelings and thoughts I have inside? Will you care?
FINDING YOUR GAME FACE: The Importance of Goal Setting in Basketball and in Life by Sonya G. Elliott
Finding my game face, that determined mindset that helps me accomplish a goal, wasn’t easy after my fiancé was killed and I was critically injured in an accident nineteen years ago. I had to rely on the “never give up” attitude and work ethic that I had learned from my days on the basketball court to help me move forward with my life and begin to heal. Though the future was something I didn’t want to think about at the time, I set some goals, put on my game face, complete with narrowed eyes and clenched jaw, and battled one day at a time to find the life I have today as a coach, a wife, a mother and a lover of the game.
Putting my dreams on paper has always helped me. The summer before I started high school I set the goal to take 5000 shots so I could improve my game and get ready for high school basketball. I achieved my goal, my summer camp’s version of the Peace.Love.Basektball Summer Shooting Challenge and made the varsity basketball team my first year of high school. The next year I became a starter. My senior year, I achieved my ultimate goal, a full-ride athletic scholarship to play basketball. My goals were being realized, but there were many goals along the way that I didn’t achieve. I didn’t make my goal of First Team All-Greater Spokane League. It was painful to watch that one die, along with others, but they were great lessons. I […]
PEACE.LOVE.BASKETBALL SUMMER SHOOTING CHALLENGE
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It’s time again for the Peace.Love.Basketball Summer Shooting Challenge! Become a better shooter this summer by setting personal goals and tracking your shooting. Go to www.peacelovebasketball.com for a
free download that includes a goal sheet to help you put your goals in writing, a shooting chart to track your shots and instructions on good shooting form. If you choose to register ($10) you will receive a note mid-summer to keep you motivated and a PLB Summer Shooting Challenge T-shirt and sticker at the end of the summer. Join the challenge and see the difference in your game. Play hard and have fun!
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Meet Sonya
Meet Sonya
Sonya Elliott’s memoir, Back on the Court: A Young Woman’s Triumphant Return to Life, Love & Basketball, is her story of finding hope in the wake of tragedy after she and her fiancé were hit by a train. She blogs about writing, basketball, and life and is currently working on a Young Adult Novel and a Non-Fiction Coaching book. Stories of her career as a fashion model are woven through her memoir, as both the Soloflex and Easy Spirit Shoes commercials were filmed during that time period, and this unique and intriguing business continues to be a part of her life.
Sonya played basketball at Eastern Washington University and was a starter for the Big Sky Champion team that went to the 1987 NCAA tournament. She coached for almost 25 years and was voted Seattle Times Coach of the Year, Seattle Officials Women’s Basketball Association Coach of the Year, and twice voted Metro League Coach of the Year. She loves the game of basketball and is thankful, not only for her husband and kids but for her ability to continue to get back on the court.
Blog
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Whatever It Takes
I’m working on two books right now. It took me ten years to write my first one, so I’m not certain this is a good idea. Still, I find that it is helpful at times to have two completely different stories in the works. When I reach a road block on one book – I’m tired or not sure where to move with the story – I switch books and there is new energy.
Maybe you don’t have to write a second book, maybe just change your environment or do something different. Go for a walk, paint, sing, skydive, something that inspires.
Quite often the best thing to do is to knuckle down and write, but if that’s not working, do whatever it takes to keep your pen hitting the paper…
Writing Prompt: I am inspired by…
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Win a Free PLB T-Shirt!
PeaceLoveBasketball T-Shirt
It has been a while since I’ve given away a PeaceLoveBasketball shirt, so now’s the time. It’s simple to get in the drawing and have a crack at winning a comfy, hip basketball shirt…
Step 1: “Like” the PeaceLoveBasketball Facebook page.
Step 2: Comment in the Win a T-shirt Thread.
The drawing will be next Thursday August 29th (so visit the site by the 28th). And the winner will be announced on next Fridays PeaceLoveBasketball post!
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Prose Focus
Today I needed an exercise to get me writing. Something new, or something I hadn’t done in a while. I pulled out Steering the Craft by Ursula K Le Guin and perused the pages. Chapter 5 grabbed me by the throat. “Chastity.” I put my index finger to the word and started reading. “Write a paragraph or page.” I can manage that I thought. I read on. “…of descriptive narrative prose without adjectives or adverbs. No dialogue.” A bit more difficult than first suspected. The idea is to give a vivid description of a scene or an action, using only verbs, nouns, pronouns and articles. (occasionally adverbs of time.). As Ursula puts it, “Be chaste.” I pulled out my journal and went to work.
Writing Prompt (if needed) to start your “Chastity” exercise: Stella spit on the floor and marched out the door…
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