The Law of Averages

Last week my son, a 7th grader, played a great game and scored 18 points against one of the best teams year in and year out in our area. He was thrilled. He shot well, played great defense, made a couple of shots that he probably should not have taken at all, and was 4 for 4 from the free throw line.

We go up to the gym after the rec games finish each Sunday evening and shoot for about an hour to get the kinks out of his shot. We turn up the music on the speaker system so he can get loose and have a little fun. During the season the good shooters need to keep up their shooting reps or they will pick up bad habits because they start to get a little tired and alter their shooting form to compensate for weaker legs. I know lots of good shooters who went into a slump and could not find an open gym to go shoot through it – you just do not get enough shooting practice every day practicing 90 minutes with the team. That really is not my story however…

On Wednesday he had another game against a much worse team. After listening to his glowing comments about Monday’s game and almost needing to widen the doorway on the house to let his head in the front door I was a little worried about a downturn. His team was 5-0 going into the game on Wednesday. True to form, it was like another boy was playing in his place. A couple of early fouls got him out of the game for the first quarter, he forced some shots trying to score some points, and we looked up at the end of the game and had lost by 5 to a team we would beat 8 or 9 out of ten times we played them.

Unless it is really positive, I like to let the games die after they are played and re-visit them a day or so afterwards. I heard a great speaker say that the number one things kids do not like about sports is the ride home right after the game - when they get all the wise and free advice from their parents about what they could have done better. When I was in 7th grade I was a bench guy so I pretty much keep quiet about his game unless it involves sportsmanship. He has a lot more talent than I did at that age and I turned out to be good enough to play and love the game in high school so I give him a lot of slack. The points that I brought up to him were two fold: 1) It is difficult to do, but great players are content to let the game come to them and not be the top scorer each time out. Sometimes it just does not happen. They don’t resort to forcing shots up to get their share of the points. They figure out a way to help the team without needing to score. 2) When the jump shot is not falling, great players do something to drive to the basket and get fouled, make some free throws and get a rhythm going. Doing so will make you become part of the game and help the team at the same time.

I told him about the law of averages and that it is designed to take in the good and the bad games. He listened for a moment and went up to his room. Good thing they have another game on Monday.

Coach Chuck

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