CrossFit Athletic Group

Mr. Robinson coaching Lamphere's JV boys, Chase and his Troy High Colts vs. Bloomfield Hills (and one of my kids from The Family), Madison and Tea with Utica Ford vs. Grosse Pointe North in the MAC championship.

Atmosphere. This, my friends is a plastic camel head.

It's about 3 feet long (cut off right before the shoulders) and about as wide as the cardboard rollers in the gym. This is meant, I'm sure, for young children to play make believe with, or museum curators to bring a diorama to life. What it was surely not meant for was an exaggerated weiner and nutsack prop for the student section leader to taunt the opposing fans and team. But man, hotcakes probably weren't invented to be breakfast sandwiches either.

All three games - even Mr. Robinson's JV game - featured rowdy crowds that fed off any trace of hostility they could in the game. This kind of crowd does not happen in any travel or city league game I've ever seen, and that's due to one missing ingredient: students.

It is one thing to play in front of scouts lined along the sidelines; it's a different beast to be shooting a free throw in the 4th quarter of a packed gym with your classmates watching and some yahoo from the other student section yelling, "YEEEAAAH, STROKE IT CHASE! STROKE IT RIGHT IN." One setting confirms a confidence in your abilities, the other builds more composure than you will ever need anywhere else in life.

Goggles. A kid had goggles on Friday. I have coached and scouted thousands of hours at the highest level of high school basketball in the country and I have never once seen a kid with goggles. But behold, when Troy needed a 3 pointer to kill a 7-0 run from Bloomfield, Goggles wet one right in the corner and promptly gave a death stare to their bench.

It is one thing to learn the harsh lesson that there's tons of great players out there and adjust your playing style to fit in with them; it's a different beast to have to rely on Goggles to save your ass. The kids on the Family can have an off night because if Curtis isn't shooting well, just give the ball to Sonny, and if he's not then just give the ball to Black, or Braelon, or Xavier, or Dylan, or literally any of the D-1 kids on the bench. If Chase Kuiper has an off night shooting, he's going to have to find other ways to manufacture a win. Can he rebound? Can he drive and dish? Can he give a teammate the confidence to step up when they're needed?

A Little Bit of Robinson in My Life. Within the first two minutes of the JV game with Lamphere down by like 12 or something I leaned over to Mr. Kuiper and said, "Lamphere looks like they have really tough practices." The things they did on the court are so not-fun that they can only be coached: sharing the ball, closing out hard on a shooter, driving and kicking out, advancing the ball, sitting down in a stance.

While I was watching Mr. Mark teach a few weeks ago I got a chance to talk to his principal and asked him where his eyes go when he wants to evaluate Mr. Mark. He said, "the kids, every time. They'll tell me how Mr. Mark is doing."

On one sideline was an animated coach, yelling at kids and trying to coach things that needed to be taken care of at practice, and on the other sideline was Mr. Robinson calling out minor adjustments and giving individual attention to players that needed to hear his voice. The way they played the game spoke to the kind of coach they had, and it's no surprise they came back from down 18 in the third quarter to win in the final minute.

The Lonely Loner. I still prefer to sit by myself at serious basketball games most times. Talk to me all you want at soccer or baseball games though.

Tea' Time. Senioritis is, in my opinion, more noticed in sports than the classroom. The fact that a kid patiently waits their turn for three years to play does not even remotely mean they deserve to do so. At the varsity level, coaches have to win - whether that happens as a byproduct of doing the right things or if it comes at any cost is a topic for a different post. Anything else puts the health of the program in jeopardy,

To me, seniors need to be the ones to pick their seat last on the bus ride, or volunteer to carry the ball bag out to the field. If the final starting spot is between a freshman who can play and a senior who's just a tiiiiny bit better, I think the freshman needs to get the spot. A senior's job is to lead no matter what the circumstances are.

So while Ford was going almost two full quarters without scoring - allowing an 11-4 EOQ1 lead turn into a 10 point deficit (that converts to a 22 point lead on the boys basketball sliding scale) midway through the third - I routinely glanced over at the bench and... yup, it was Tea' Rettig standing up all by herself, yeling out help and encouragement for her teammates and arguing with the ref any chance she got. As luck would have it, Ford rallied back to cut the lead to two, and... yup, the rest of the bench girls had no trouble showing their energy there.

I think it's common to believe - I'm as guilty as anyone - that supporting the opposing viewpoint is a complete abandonment of the one we feel so strongly about. I would imagine Tea' strongly disagrees with the amount of time she spends on a bench. But you would never know that based on her energy and support at the game. Her value to Ford's basketball team goes beyond what can be put in the scorebooks and is an example all seniors - or any adults in leadership positions - need to follow. And taking it back to Mr. Robinson's lesson, that should say something about Tea's parents also.

Haven't been that proud of someone in a long time. I have a Summer 2022 shirt waiting for you.