BOING: You don’t have to win to succeed

When it comes to sports, I like to consider myself an all-knowing, well-versed mastermind. I may not know all there is to know, but I tell myself I do.

It is also true that I have an uncanny way with children - this may be because that we're on the same wavelength, as far as maturity is concerned, at least. We understand each other more than we probably should.

So when you mix the two together, youth sports is right up my alley, right?

Indeed it is, but with an overall coaching record of just 14-27 (that includes two stints at Little League and one season apiece for soccer and basketball), my "winning" percentage is far from winning - only a stingy .341.

And while I now consider success to be in the eye of the beholder (the trophy-holder, in my early days), I always remember the greatest piece of advice I have ever heard: "You don't need to win to succeed."

Anyway, I absorbed that morsel of knowledge into my coaching repertoire and eventually buried it in the wide abyss that is my conscious.

There it lay, dormant in my mind this year, until I was pondering whether I had time to coach another basketball team. But when I relished the possibility of another 1-9 season, maybe I wasn't as good a basketball coach as I originally thought.

The John Wooden of Coeur d'Alene Park and Rec, I think not.

Yes, I love the sport, and I claim to know a great deal about it. I've always taken pride that teams under my coaching umbrella may not be the best in the league, but my kids always agree that they have more fun "playing" the game instead of just learning the rules.
However, last year's third grade basketball squad seemed aloof.
I enjoyed the season tremendously, but watching certain players transform from awkward ball-handlers to confident point guards made me love the sport even more. Alas, it wasn't to be. Save for our 4-2 manhandling of only one team, we lost every game.

"You do not need to win to succeed," I repeated to myself all throughout the year.

Our pizza party came and went, and the parents all thanked me for volunteering. I figured they would all look forward to another year, another coach.

Ten months later, that all changed. For upon my arrival at Black Sheep last week (my former place of employment), I was confronted by one of the cashiers.

"Jake, two women were looking for you today," she said.

Mother of God, what did I do now?

"They said you coached their sons' basketball team last year," she continued. "And they wanted to make sure you signed up again this year so you can coach their kids."

Mother of God, I almost cried. Tears of joy, mind you, for this was the greatest thing I'd heard all day? all week? all month? heck, this was the nicest thing I truly think has been said about me in my entire life.

While I ate myself up for the past 10 months thinking I did a horrible job, two players' moms sought me out to make sure I would coach again.

There is no greater compliment on Planet Earth.

So I sauntered on down to the Park and Recreation office at City Hall and promptly signed up. To make the whole deal sweeter, they even remembered my name when I walked in.

We won't win every game this year; that much is certain. If we finish at .500, I will be impressed. But if we lose every game and still finish with smiles on our faces, then I will be ecstatic.

Remember, you don't have to win to succeed.