For The Love Of The Game

Occupation - Coach. (Click picture for larger view)

"It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness." ~ Thomas Jefferson

Coaching this team would bring neither wealth nor splendor and I doubt sincerely if it brought him any tranquility. Nyssa's basketball coach at the Math & Science high school had to coach because he loved the game. It certainly wasn't the excitement of winning, they didn't win a game in two years; although they almost won one game her senior year, but lost by two points to Immanuel... Nyssa's school her first two years of high school. I don't think many coaching scouts came to the games... very few parents came to them as most of the students were from other towns all across Mississippi. None of the girls were going to go to Duke or UConn on a basketball scholarship, in fact many of them had never played before. But they did go to Cornell, Yale, Princeton, CalTech, and William & Mary and their class had thirteen National Merit Finalists. It was probably easier for some of the girls to calculate the physics of a jump shot than make one. Yet, this coach always encouraged and never berated. He was gracious in ... well, I was going to say "winning and losing" but we will just have to say he was graceful in losing.

PS: The year after Nyssa graduated, the girls team won two or three games. I think it was the first time in the fifteen year history of the school that the girls team actually won. Oh, well. Everyone can't play in the WNBA! By the way, can you tell which player belongs to me?

Submission for Thursday Challenge topic "occupation". (end of post)