I stepped away from coaching a few years back so that I could watch my boys finish their basketball careers. Since they were young, I always had a ball in their hands, would take them to practices when I was coaching and always fanned the flames of their passion for the game.

I also made sure they understood that, although basketball was my life, it was a small reflection of life itself. It was always such a parallel to me. Passions generally are. How “what I do” equates to “how I live.”

It was never just a silly little game where a small leather ball went through a cold metal ring. For me, the passions and the parallels started at a young age in a backyard with a basketball hoop mounted over a garage. I learned from that point on, the ideas of finetuning and defining a craft, the ability to work with others on a team, the facing of competition, the time limits, the boundaries, the learning, the mentoring, the adrenaline of handling a victory and the humility of tasting defeat.

All things that equate perfectly to life and in every job I have ever worked. Principles I learned on the court are the principles I am still guided by today. I feel that sports in general gave me a pretty fair template for everything else.

Three years ago, though it seems like yesterday, I watched my youngest son take that walk from the midst of his peers to receive his accolades for what he contributed to for his high school basketball team. I had gone through sports banquets with all my kids, and watching each one come to the end of a high school career has left a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye.

That year was the last sports banquet for me and like the template of the game itself, the clock had wound down for him and I would have to witness him walk off the court a last time. Whether it’s their last game, or last play or last band concert or last steps out of a high school – the banquets and moments to congratulate bring closure.

We put that year’s basketball season to rest. We put my last son’s final year in the books and it was a very good run. The night was filled with pizza and salads and juice and as with every one of the sports banquets I have attended, the boys descended upon the food table as hungry locusts and every parent there had a story about how much their boys could eat.

There were speeches by the coaches and tears in their eyes as they spoke as if at a funeral service for a loved one, they eulogized the season. And it is, of sorts, laying to rest this specific team that will never all play together again as that team. 

It was exciting that year. The awards given out on that night proved it. Seven records went into the school statistical archives including a single season record by our team’s 7-footer with 94 blocks. The team had four players in the All-Conference lists and nine letters were awarded. And oh, the things the boys learned this year.

I have said it many times, there was absolutely no “give up” in the hearts of our boys. Whether it was the tip-in with the score tied or the end of the game, down by 15, they played like there was no clock. 

It was also my final year to say “goodbye” to a child on the court. 

Personally I would like to thank the coaching staffs for all the hours, all the work and all the teaching they provided for my kids. Though I didn’t always agree with their philosophies or their coaching methods, my children came away learning life lessons. Whether it was to win with humility or learn how to walk through adversity while maintaining their integrity. The life lessons were not wasted. 

And life. Goes on.