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The Student News Site of McCallum High School

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The Student News Site of McCallum High School

The Shield Online

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Student shares experience coaching youth basketball

Making a shot makes a basketball player feel good about themselves, and it was also rewarding for the coach. In the case of David Ruwwe’s youth basketball team, scoring a point was a very exciting and rewarding feeling.

“We didn’t win a game all season, so it’s obviously good when we score,” Ruwwe said. “This one game we were like, going off, we scored like eight points; that was our max. Every time the

david photo
Senior David Ruwwe is the head coach of The Panthers.

y score you’re just like, ‘I helped. I helped do that. I helped make them better.’”

Ruwwe coaches for Upward Sports with his friend Mike Genovesi along with an adult leader named Pat; this is their first year. He said he joined to give back to the community and practice his leadership.

“I’ve learned that I need to be patient,” Ruwwe said. “It’s kind of frustrating because you’d expect then to do a lot better. In reality they’re god-awful, but they’re trying and that’s all that matters. They’re having fun, so you have to realize that it’s [recreational] basketball. You’re not there to be a jerk. They’re there to have fun, not to be recruited to the USA basketball team. You have to realize that they’re having fun and you’re having fun with them.”

Ruwwe said that coaching is a balance between being fun and strict.

“I’m just like, ‘David, you gotta chill out man. They’re having fun,’” Ruwwe said.” You have to be stern but you have to be nice when either reprimanding them or teaching them or tryin

g to get their attention.”
Ruwwe said youth sports are very important to him, and he wanted to promote the importance by being a teenage coach.

 

“When I was in youth sports, it was a great opportunity to make friends and create a whole new social scene,” Ruwwe said. “I didn’t know that at the time, but I made a lot of new friends, and I connected with them and I stayed connected with them throughout the years. I think it’s important for youth sports to emphasize team work and commitment because it’ll set you up for other things and school and sports.”
Ruwwe said youth sports also teaches kids that they have to be on time for things and work as a team in order to be successful.

“I always tried to emphasize that practice was at 6:30 every Monday night and games were at 11 on Saturdays [and to be] there 15 minutes early,” Ruwwe said. “That taught you that you needed to be on time for important things in your life. As a second and third grader, they’re pretty self-absorbed with the idea that, ‘I want to score. I want to have the ball.’ I tried to emphasize that there are open teammates. More often than not you could actually pass the ball to someone who has a better chance at scoring; therefore you can win the game. Kids that age aren’t really focused on doing stuff for the team. They’re more focused on the individual.”

While Ruwwe tried to teach the kids through coaching, coaching also helped improve his leadership.

“I’ve also known that I was a good leader but whenever I’m the only coach there, I have to take charge and I have to make decisions by myself like what we’re gonna do today, what we’re gonna try to get better on,” Ruwwe said. “There is a mid-practice devotion so that’s kind of hard to lead sometimes.”

The devotion session is a short session during practices that helps the kids learn more about responsibility.

“It’s a set sheet of what we talk about,” Ruwwe said. “We get certain verses from the Bible and then we talk about that. It’s like five to ten minutes and then we choose initiative, responsibility, good traits to have and then we re-enforce them by telling stories about our own life.”

Ruwwe dislocated his knee and tore his MCL and can no longer play sports. He said coaching gives him an opportunity to be involved in sports without having to risk further injury.

“Since they’re smaller kids and you’re practicing with them, it’s obviously not as intense,” Ruwwe said. “You don’t have that level of competition to play against. I can show them the skills they need to learn without going 100 percent, so it’s helpful in that sense. There’s not that risk involved of hurting myself if that makes any sense. Although I was injured, or I guess I still am, I feel like me being there as a teenager promotes the sport because it gives the kid something to look up to. Not just me but seeing an older person, someone not that much older than them, participating in the sport, enjoying the sport. I guess that just gives them a good reason to do it.”

Although he is injured, Ruwwe can still show the kids how to do each move thanks to his prior knowledge of basketball and the fact that he plays for fun sometimes.

“Considering I played basketball [before, and] I play basketball just for fun sometimes, I can physically do the demonstrations for them and show them how to do things,” Ruwwe said. “I would say I’m pretty good at basketball. I’m not a hoop-star, but I’m a hoop-moon-not-as-big as a star. Since I’m actually able to do it, I can play in the scrimmages with them. I can show them how to do stuff.”

In the end, Ruwwe said he wanted the kids to like him. There weren’t many times he could share things about himself, but he wanted them to know him as a fun coach.

“It’s kind of like the good cop, bad cop situation,” Ruwwe said. “I want them to know me as the good cop and the one that’s trying to have fun. Although I have to be responsible and assertive, I always try to have fun during the practices and just mess around with them. So I want them to know me as being the fun guy who makes the practices fun.”

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