A few days ago I gave you my three rules to live by. Rule number one is to have fun. I was in a coaches webinar with the lead him up Community a few nights ago. One of the tips that Adam Bradley gave us, was to lean into the fun. We've all been there in serious moments with our team, and without warning, something funny happens. Maybe somebody's voice cracks, or two kids have been staring at each other and they just can't hold in their giggles anymore. And there's laughter. And the kids are nervous because they don't know if they're allowed to laugh or not, because we’re in the middle of something serious.
We have a couple of options when that happens. We can get stern, and reel them in quickly. We can laugh along with them, and enjoy the break in the tension, and we can let it get out of hand and stay off track.
During this webinar, I was reminded to lean into the fun. I get to coach high school sports. If we're not having fun, what are we doing? This is your reminder to lean into the fun. You can be disciplined, you can be tough on them, you have to love them. Make sure you and they are having fun, and i challenge you to lean into those moments.
It reminded me of when I was in seventh or eighth grade, and I had two female coaches. Both had played basketball, one was way more serious than the other. And both of them really loved us. One day we were practicing at the Essex Valley school, which has baskets that are 8 feet on the sides for the younger kids. Our less serious coach was tall enough that she could reach the net without jumping of this basket.
Our more serious coach had us on the baseline, about to run a sprint, because we didn't go through a drill hard enough a minute before. And while she was yelling at us, Coach Schelli grabbed onto the net of the lower basket and started spinning around underneath it. We knew we weren't supposed to laugh because we were getting yelled at, but all of us were staring at Coach Schelli, and when Coach Merriweather noticed that none of us were looking at her, she turned around and saw her assistant being silly. I don't know if either adult remembers that moment, but I promise you that every player does. Embrace the fun moments.
