The Hardest Part About NOT Coaching Next Year

There are as many reasons as you can think of why I decided to not continue on as the head boys' basketball coach at my current school.  Really, you can name something about coaching and I can explain to you why I have reached the end of my rope at this current. time.

However, there are two reasons that makes me upset, sad, lose composure...whatever you want to call it and those are my two kids.  My wife will support me no matter what I do, coach or not, and really, so will my kids.  I finally broke the news to them about a week ago and my son didn't really understand and my daughter was a little upset.  But when I explained to her why I was doing it and what could happen, she was fine with it.  You could tell she was a little upset, but happy because I was.

But...they had become so much a part of what we were doing.  My daughter would wear her cheerleading outfit for every game.  She would either cheer or not with the high school cheerleaders, but at the games the cheerleaders didn't cheer...she would.  Hard.  Loud.  With all her heart.  I would catch myself during the games watching her impressed at her tumbling abilities and the piercing of her shrill screams when the other team was on the free throw line.

And my son, there isn't a gym he hasn't been in that he doesn't think he owns.  My wife told me that he was extremely impatient to get going to the games and when he would come into the gym his jacket would go flying and he would go right to the middle of the court to grab a basketball to start dribbling.  He would continue to do that until the night was over.  He was in and out of the locker room, he would be in our huddle, he would be giving our players high fives (they seemed to love having him around, and he looked up to them as his heroes.

Knowing that I was taking that away from them was hard, it still is.  I feel I am taking something from them that is not just part of their life, but a fun, important part of their life.  I have had people tell me that I cannot continue to coach just for that reason if it was going to make me miserable, and I agree.  But it really bothers me.  I guess I know that this isn't it for me.  That I will be an assistant at some point and may even coach them.  I do have a key to a gym 24/7 and they will be around the games, but it won't be the same.  They may not notice a difference, but it will be different......to me.