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Running head: COACHING IS KEY

Coaching Is Key
Diversity and Social Justice in Recreation and Leisure Services 496-01
Jackson S. Haak
November 13, 2014

COACHING IS KEY
Coaching Is Key
You are the best coach I have ever had. Thanks coach J for all you have taught us so
far. These are the words by various 6th grade boys who are a part of the northwest area of
Spokane, Washington. Historically known for being a neighborhood of low income. These kids
signed up for a program through Hoopfest called, Midnight Madness, a 3 on 3-basketball

program. The programs objective is to help kids from a tough background and neighborhood to
find alternative leisure activities to keep them off the streets on Saturday nights. Many of these
student athletes were underprivileged and even oppressed due to their ethnicity, socio-economic
class, and age. Because of these things they attended the lowest rated and funded public schools
in northwest Spokane, Washington. Throughout this assignment, I will be talking about how I
compared to these children when I was their age, stereotypes I had prior to coaching this age
group, my first practice/overall experience with coaching so far, and will conclude with my
feeling and thoughts after meeting their families, friends, after our first game.
Public vs. Private
Prior to this assignment, I did a few searches online on what the word, socio-economic
status meant. According to the American Psychological Association this means, a combination
class of an individual or group. When viewed through a social class lens, privilege, power, and
control are emphasized. At first, when I signed up to coach, I did not know what to expect; with
me personally coming from a background of high-class socio-economic background, I had some
sense these kids would be different from me, and boy I was wrong. Coming from a private
school in 6th grade, I had the opportunity to play AAU basketball. AAU basketball is a league in
which my parents and other kids parents on the team paid a fair amount of money to sign their
kid up to play basketball.

COACHING IS KEY
Things of this nature I took for granted as a 6th grader because I did not know0=y what
the true value of money and privilege meant. Yes, I was privileged that I had the opportunity to
play in a safe environment, with great gyms, basketball, new basketball shoes, jerseys, and etc.

each and every year. Little did I know at that age it was not the same for all 6th graders. These 6th
graders have more heart and determination than I think I even had at their age. They have to
worry about parents picking them up, if they have enough money to afford a pair of basketball
shoes, and whether the gym we practice is safe. In other words, the experience with coaching
from a public school standpoint rather than being a player on the private aspect makes me
appreciate what resilience these kids have into playing the game of basketball they love so much.
Stereotypes
While reading the class book, Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, I discovered a
quote or two, which has some great significance to me with dealing with stereotyping, racism,
and prejudice. According to Tatum (2013), prejudice is a preconceived judgment or opinion,
usually based on limited information. (p. 65) With that being said, my preconceived notions
about coaching these kids were attitudes and feelings such as: these kids will be hard to deal
with, I hope these kids are not ghetto like most kids from broken families, wonder if any of these
kids are trouble makers in the streets. All of these preconceived ideas I had before even having
our first practice with the kids could have led to failure from the beginning. I prayed often about
how I would deal with these situations and was excited to take on a new element and challenge
in my life. An idea which I took from the book author Beverly D. Tatum says, in order to be
proactive in the sense of throwing away the prejudice thoughts was to run opposite of the
conveyor belt. The idea of the conveyor belt is that unless I am actively trying to help the
cause with not being judgmental or stereotypical, I would have to engage in walking faster than

COACHING IS KEY
this so-called conveyor belt or I would be carried along just like those who are actively
discriminating. (2013, p. 67) Boom! It clicked. In order for me to be a coach that could lead a
young group of kids, I would have to get off the conveyor belt and I sure did.
First Practice
The first practice was looming and day-by-day I was getting more and more nervous.
Luckily, I have coached before, so I banked on my previous coaching experience as my guide
into coaching these children. Just as expected, I had a group of ten 6th grade boys of differing
races. African American made up the majority of our team. My assistant coach is my Hispanic
roommate, so it was easy for him to relate to the Hispanic children on our team. It was easy for
me to relate to all races on the team because I identify as Haitian American. Because I was

adopted into a high socio-economic status parents; I was sent to a private school and brought up
amongst Asians, Hispanics, Whites, and a few African Americans. When the players walked in
one by one I could tell from their own body language that they were excited to be playing
basketball with all their friends. Also, when being asked by the players, where are you from,
how old are you, have you ever played basketball before, I had answer for them all. I came
from Sunnyside, Washington, I was 20 years old, and I won two state basketball championships
in high school. I felt when I told them this they got a feeling of relief and security for two
reasons. First, I am close to their age so I could relate to them whether they have questions about
basketball, school, or life. And second, they could trust the coaching I gave them because I won
two state basketball championships in high school. First practice was a great success and I shall
tell you why. Not only did I take those steps of actively going faster than the conveyer belt and
do something about my notions of the kids being ghetto or foolish or uncooperative, I
individually talked to each and every member of the team to let them know I appreciated them

COACHING IS KEY

turning out for the team and hoped I could make their experience one to remember for the rest of
their lives. And indeed after the first practice I did. The quote in the beginning was Treyvon on
the team stating, You are the best coach I have ever had, Thanks coach J for all you have taught
us so far. To me, as a coach, moments like these make trying new experiences worth it even
more when it is all said and done.

Reflection on Game
After our final practice, Thursday October 30th, 2014, I ended practice with a few words
of encouragement. First, I thanked each and every member of our team for coming to practice for
the past 3 weeks. Again, I wanted to let them know how much each and every one of the players
meant to me. Second, I tried to get them mentally prepared for the games about to be played on
Saturday night. I aimed to instill in their young minds that each of them has different talents and
assets to add to this team and is absolutely irreplaceable.
Saturday night rolled around before the games even began I had the opportunity to meet
each and every parent of the players. Repeatedly, I thanked them over and over about how much
I appreciate them picking up and driving their child to and from practice each Thursday. The
various prejudices and stereotypical notions that I had about their parents was wrong. Even
though these children come from a low socio-economic environment, these parents try day in
and day out to give their child the best opportunity possible even with the little finances they do
have. Finally, I had the opportunity to round up all my players for one final speech and pep talk
around me excited, nervous, scared, and any other emotion you could think of a 6th grader might
have was running through their heads. I told them again and again even though all of us would

COACHING IS KEY

love to win, the ultimate goal is teamwork and hard work. When combining these two skills, I do
not think in my heart anyone could beat us.
Conclusion
With that being said, not only did these kids enjoy the games they got to play in, they
won both games they played. As a team, the first game we won by 13 points and the second
game by 16 points. Going through these last few weeks has opened my eyes to something
completely different from where I grew up and how I was raised. Even though these 6th grade
boys and I have a lot of things different about us, one thing I know we have in common is that
we have a love for the game of basketball and a love for one another as a team.

COACHING IS KEY
References
Tatum, B. D. (2013). Defining Racism: Can We Talk. M. Adams, W. J. Blumenfeld, C. R.
Castaneda, H. W. Hackman, M. L. Peters, & X. Zuniga. (Eds.), Readings for Diversity
and Social Justice (pp. 65-68). New York, NY: Routledge.