St. William girls basketball: "We are the champions"

As the clock ticked down in a small, west-side gym this morning, shots were hitting the backboard, hitting the rim, and falling out. I was jumping up and down, yelling and screaming. When the clock hit 0:00, we stood victorious.

I played basketball for four years in grade school, and we won one game. One game. I remember it like it was yesterday though, in the St. Dominic tournament in fourth grade, we beat St. Martin 15-13. I remember going home and celebrating with neighbor Andrew Wuebbling, who played an instrumental role in the win as one of our guards.

In a photo pulled from the "this should embarrass them" archives, myself on the left and Andrew on the right in the backyard we played in so often on West Eighth Street

This win might have been sweeter for me. In my first season as a head coach of the St. William 5th and 6th grade girls “B” team, I’ve been through some rough patches. We lost our first game 28-1, and our second 18-4. Last weekend only four girls showed up to a Saturday morning game where we got trounced 32-5.

Needless to say, it can be frustrating, but today, it was all worth it. We trailed St. Antoninus 5-1 at halftime when I pulled my team to the corner of the gym. “Listen to me,” I pleaded. “They’re only up four points. Four points. We can win this game.”

And apparently my little pep talk worked out. As the third quarter expired one of my girls was fouled. She nailed both free throws, and we trailed 5-3 after three. The intensity picked up as we entered the final five minutes of play. I screamed and yelled, numerous times intently staring at my brother Tony—who serves as my assistant coach—and said, “This game is ours, we’re going to win it.”

That's one heck of a coaching tandem right there

People call me crazy, people call me insane, and people know I love to win. Today I became intent on winning this game, come hell or high water. Last night I thought to myself, ‘We better win one soon, or these girls will never be motivated to play again.’ My worst fear as a head coach is that we won’t be able to pull together enough confidence to win a game, leading the girls I coach now to quit like I did ten years ago.

We battled back and scored three in the final quarter, just enough to nudge past our opponent by one. At the end of the game, as the shots flew off the backboard, every St. William parent said their hearts stopped.

Great, now I’m giving parents heart troubles.

One parent said, “I swear, I was going to have a heart attack,” and laughed with me after the game.

As soon as the clock hit all zeroes, and I knew we had won I began jumping up and down. There might be nothing better than winning for this team. The joy and jubilation on everyone’s faces—from the kids to their parents to the other St. William team (who played right after us) and even on my own—was a sight to see.

Call me insane, call me crazy, but don’t ever say I’m not passionate. Win number one was a great one, but with one game this evening at 7 p.m. and another tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m., we have little time to rest up before getting back after it. Maybe today will be a two-for-two day.

If it is, I’ll be one happy head coach. Until then, enjoy your weekend.