
In my life I have coached 9 different 5th & 6th grade basketball teams. This is a wonderful age to coach young boys because they are at an age in which they are still boys but have developed the competitive nature of men. In all of those 9 years that I coached, there were only 2 years in which I had my son on a team. I never wanted to be a parent coach. I always said that when I had a son, if God granted that, I would not coach the team(s) he was on. However, when my son Jimmy was in the 5th grade, the school booster club found out I was a 5th & 6th grade basketball coach with all winning seasons except for one out of 7 seasons and they asked me to coach.
It was the 1997-1998 season and they came at me hard to coach my son’s team. This was a unique situation because in the entire 5th grade class, there were 23 girls and only 6 boys. I took the job because with a 6 man team, I could not be partial to my son.
I will tell you in advance that we had a winning season.

Two weeks prior to the game we planned a strategy to slow the game down, conserve our energy and be aggressive on outside shooting.

Long storey short, in each quarter the score went back and forth and the game was very close. With only 28 seconds left we hit two free throws and gained a 3 point lead. As the other team came down the floor, our defense was in place and with 12 seconds left, a player on the other team shot a 3-point attempt and made the shot and drew a foul from one of our players. Now the game was tied with 12 seconds left and the undefeated team was on the foul line for one shot. The tension mounted and the other team shot an “air ball” and we gained possession. Our point guard brought the ball quickly down court and passed to a forward who passed to my son, Jimmy, #52, and he took the ball inside and made the layup.
We had beaten the undefeated team of 17 players with our little 6 man team. In the story of David and Goliath, a very similar thing happened.

In hard times we get beaten up pretty badly, but with a little help from God and faith in our God given abilities to pull out our best efforts, we too can prevail. It is so amazing what kids can teach us.
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