A Coach's Diary

"But coach, I can't run because I hurt my wrist." I once coached a kid, let's call him Taylor, who was very injury-prone. It felt like each week during the pre-season, he was hurting something, and Taylor was starting to spend as much time in the training room as he was on the court. This was happening before practice officially started for high school basketball in Texas, but we were able to do strength and conditioning before school to get their bodies prepared for the season, and we were able to do skills training and scrimmage during our period. Taylor had a lot of potential, and he had a legit chance to make the varsity team as a sophomore and play meaningful minutes, but the injuries were hurting his chances. Injuries can be difficult to manage as a high school coach, especially during the grind of the off-season. On one hand, we want to honor the injuries and make sure that we do what we can to keep our athletes healthy. On the other hand, we had to figure out ...

If you have ever gone through anything devastating like a serious injury, then you know how scary, painful, and hard it can be to deal with. The video below is a story that ESPN did of Azzi Fudd and how she tore her knee and her road to recovery. Azzi Fudd is one of the best basketball players in the country and she will be a freshman for the UConn basketball team in 2021-2022. Azzi was the first sophomore to ever win the Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year award in 2019, when she averaged 26 points per game for St. Johns High School in Washington D.C. She was considered the best high school player in the country and a generational talent, and then she tore her ACL and her MCL the summer after her sophomore year while attending. She was driving to the basket during the USA Basketball 3 on 3 National Championships when she tore them. Azzi's mother said that she could see the fear in her eyes when it happened. Azzi said that she had never had an injury like that...

One of the hardest things to witness is an injury to a player. Nobody sets out trying to get hurt, but injuries happen. Injuries can affect so many people. Of course, they affect the player, they affect the team, and they affect the coaching staff who has a goal to win as many games as they can. Injuries also affect parents. Injuries are hard on parents. We love watching our kids play. We want our kids to have a great experience playing sports. We don't want to see our athletes hurting, physically or emotionally. But again, injuries do happen. Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. I heard a great message one day that started with the quote, you can't have a TESTIMONY without going through a TEST. Injuries are a test. Your testimony is your story. Steph Curry's testimony is that he was under-recruited and over-looked his entire life. He fought through that, and he became one of the best college basketball players of his time. Steph then had to fight thro...