The Hawks

I'm coaching a Special Olympics basketball team again this year. In fact, the season is almost over. There is one week to go until we play in a final tournament. It's time for fine tuning our game. Fine tuning has a different meaning with our team than it might with other teams.

We play in a gym that has several baskets. We were going to have a cross court scrimmage a while ago. I asked three players which would be the basket they would be shooting at. They pointed to three different baskets. Come on. One of those isn't even on our court. We put on our scrimmage shirts. Its a 50-50 proposition that they get put on frontwards.

Those moments are the ones when we are not on top of our game. But when we are - look out. Our team name is The Hawks. We had a team meeting to decide that. The meeting itself was a bit of an adventure, but we came up with our name - The Hawks.

The rules for Special Olympics games are different. An infraction has to be pretty blatant to get called. So I coach our team to not cheat, but to take full advantage of what the refs will allow. I tell them not to foul, i.e. tackle, but slapping at the ball is fine. If you get a bit of arm in the process, well its part of the game. I've never seen that kind of contact called a foul. I also have not seen three seconds in the key, traveling, double dribbling, or lane violations called. All that will be to our advantage.

Its only a game. That is my word to the team. However, it is not only a game. We want to win. Last year our final game got cancelled because the tournament ended early because of bad weather. Two years ago we were playing in the championship game and lost in double overtime. During that second overtime my two best players got hurt in literally a four person pile up. Heartbreak.

So it will be interesting. A full report will follow in about a week.