Anticipation

I remember a commercial when I was a kid for Heinz ketchup. They turned the bottle upside down and the substance was so thick that it took a while for it to come out to be enjoyed with french fries, a hot dog, or another of America's gourmet delicacies. The song lyrics were, "Anticipation...is makin me wait". Thanks to Google, I found out that it was performed by J. Mascis and the Fog.

When I was a kid, I would always get really excited before big events to where I couldn't sleep. Before we would go to a Detroit Tigers game or Cedar Point amusement park, I was very restless. Last night was one of those nights in preparation for today. I went to bed early knowing that I was to get up at 4 am for a drive to Birmingham to catch a flight to Houston. I woke up at 1 AM and never got back to sleep. I even watched C-Span to try to get back to sleep and ended up getting engrossed in the coverage of House committee hearings with the CEO's of BP and Transoceanic who were getting grilled over the oil spill (speaking of anticipation, you would think they could have thought anticipated some worst case scenario's there to protect their 26 Billion dollar business). I was too excited about this weekend.

I eagerly anticipate the weekend for several reasons. I get to hug my family and catch up with the happenings of my kids. I will attend the graduation ceremony at Westbury Christian where I have 13 of my players and managers from this last season walking across the stage. I don't want to understate how important those things are to me, but it is going to be a great basketball weekend. Today at 3 PM I will attend a mini-clinic with Coach Don Meyer who is the winningest coach in college basketball history. He is doing a private clinic for the coaches at WCS and friends. I enjoy the learning that takes place when he speaks, but I enjoy seeing my former boss Coach Greg Glenn (I was Greg's assistant boy's coach for 6 years) get to spend time with his mentor even more. Greg played for Coach Meyer at Lipscomb on their National Championship team. Greg has had such an impact on me as a coach and a person that I know I have been influenced by Coach Meyer's teaching.

On Friday afternoon, I get to go to the home of Rebekah Marsh and sign her to a letter-of-intent to come play for me at Faulkner (more on Rebekah in a future blog).

On Saturday morning, I get to attend a breakfast with my coaching colleagues where my friend Charlie Ward is speaking. Every time he opens his mouth, which is not often, there is Godly wisdom spewed forth. Friday Night is Westbury's graduation where Coach Meyer will again speak.

On Sunday, I will attend church and Bible class at Westbury Church of Christ where I will again be surrounded by people that have encouraged and challenged me along the way.

Of course, I will be visiting with a few AAU coaches and High School coaches to try to find the best candidates to add to my team from 2011 graduates. I am especially excited to see Coach Jyusef Larry, who despite being a Harding grad is a dear friend who is getting his first head girl's coaching job at Memorial High School in Houston. He was a fellow varsity assistant with the boy's team at Westbury with me and he was my JV assistant coach. I am really proud of him and I am looking forward to seeing his influence not only on the kids he will coach, but also within wider basketball circles in the city of Houston. I am also trying to meet the parents of Faulkner signee Katie Pavlik for the first time. It will be great to meet the folks that developed such a great daughter.

What a weekend of basketball and relationship building to look forward to. I am living the dream as they say and will grow in many ways this weekend. I look forward to lasking volumes of questions to all of the coaching influences in my life that I will see this weekend. I am going to ask their personal advice for me on starting a program and I will certainly share this mother lode of blog material in the coming weeks.

Be blessed in your life today and anticipate the awesome opportunities God gives us each day to grow!

Coach

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord;
to sing praises to your name, O Most High."
Psalm 92:1