Colgate Basketball was off for three days around Christmas. My wife and I had the chance to go back to the Philadelphia area to spend time with family and friends. While at my parents’ home, my brother asked if I wanted to watch a collection of home videos recorded on Christmas Day when we were children. He partly asked me to watch so that he could make fun of my youthful exuberance every second of the video, but that is beside the point. So as we sat there watching the videos of when I was just old enough to walk and understand Santa Claus, I was reminded how much I love basketball and why.
At just over one year old the video cut to the small kitchen in what was then my family’s home. My dad as a young man was standing in the kitchen with a basketball that Santa had just delivered under the Christmas tree the night before. I was watching my dad, mesmerized by him bouncing the ball. Maybe it was the visual effect of the ball going up and down, or the sound the ball was making against the tiles; but for whatever reason, I was completely enthralled. He then said, “Okay Mike, it’s your turn.” I took the basketball and started slapping it up and down for nearly a minute straight. Then the video cut out.
The tape picked back up with my grandparents and my great grandmother in the living room hanging out with me and my brand new Fisher-Price basketball hoop. They were handing me the ball and urging me to toss it towards the basket. I kept shooting the ball at the hoop and didn’t stop for several minutes. I’m sure the adults in the video were tired of my continued pursuit to make jump shots in the living room, but they played along as I made several baskets with a big smile on my face.
The 30-year-old college coach version of myself started thinking about how simple the joy of bouncing the ball was and how impactful the joy of shooting on a Fisher-Price hoop would be on the rest of my life. Our team at Colgate has had a very competitive start to our season up until this point but our expectations, in many ways, are greater than our record indicates. I spent a lot of my time away for the holidays thinking about how we can improve as we enter the start of Patriot League play but these videos were such a great reminder of how simple and fun the game can be.
The joy of bouncing the ball in the kitchen helped me remember shoveling snow off the local courts with my brothers and cousins to play ball on Christmas Day when we were teenagers. It reminded me of my family coming together to watch me play college games. It reminded me of all the wonderful coaches I have had that helped me become a better player and a better person. And the video helped me remember why I continue to be around the sport I love. It may sound cliché but sometimes it is hard to not take our game for granted. At any level you get caught up in wins and losses and can easily forget what makes our game special. I challenge you to take some time and think about why the game is special for you and take those thoughts and memories into practices and games the rest of the season.
Have a happy new year and best wishes in 2015!
-Coach McGarvey
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