17-year MTA Varsity Basketball Coach Daniel Gibber sent the following message to his team just after the basketball season ended with a loss to Ramaz.
Dear Parents and Players,
This past season was a real joy for me to coach as our squad consisted of a group of the finest young men that represented themselves, our team and our school with class, dignity, outstanding middos, sportsmanship, dedication, selflessness and total commitment to the cause.
While the 21 wins were thrilling and the 4 losses heartbreaking, one of my most memorable moments came this past Friday morning. The scene was a pre-game locker room talk at SAR, a mere 12 hours after our disappointing loss to Beren-Houston the night before. I was holding my clipboard preparing my 23rd pre-game strategy talk of the season. As I glanced up from my clipboard, I encountered 14 dejected young men, with slumped shoulders and thoughts of the previous night’s disappointment clearly dominating their thoughts. I quickly put the clipboard away and spent the remaining few minutes before tip-off sharing a thought that I hoped would resonate with the players for years to come.
I proceeded to tell our team that as 16, 17 and 18-year-old young men, they have, G-d willing, a lifetime of successes, accomplishments and memorable moments awaiting them in the years ahead. I told them, however, that along with the successes and big wins, life sometimes brings disappointments and “knock down” moments along with it. I told them to be thankful that at this early juncture in their lives, their great disappointment of the moment was merely a lost basketball game. I relayed how one of the great challenges of life is to be able to rise again following the disappointing moments and to clearly think and plan for a path forward. The chance to rise again to fight another day is one of life’s greatest opportunities.
I then told our team that they could either choose to roll over and “mail in” the final three games, or they could choose to quickly re-invest emotionally and to battle back to make the most of their final three games. I asked them to rise up yet again so that they would have the opportunity the following week, for one final time, to play in front of their entire school with something on the line.
With those words our guys took the floor and proceeded to thrash three consecutive opponents on the way to winning the national YU-sponsored Sarachek Tier 2 Championship and yet another 21-win season. If the high school basketball experience can be used as a teaching tool for the lessons of life, then the hundreds of hours that we spend practicing, planning and playing each season, are each worth their weight in gold.
I was proud to have coached this group; they will all truly be “Lions4Life”!
