I recently broke the #1 rule that comes with being on a sports team. I should know better, but I couldn't help myself. It's probably a good thing that I'm the coach or I'd probably be looking over my shoulder for errand pucks, cross checkers, or even sticks that "accidentally" slip from the hands of fore-checking forwards. Perhaps what will save me is the fact that my players are still kids, 11 and 12 year old boys, who are still learning the ropes about the idiosyncrasies of teammanship. They likely do not comprehend as of yet that I have committed such an egregious violation of the team concept. It may also help that not too many 11 and 12 year old kids are faithful subscribers to my blog.
What rule, you ask? Was it failing to give 110%, which is not only mathematically impossible, but humanly impossible too? Nope! Perhaps it was forgetting to teach the kids the all important rule that "winners never quit and quitters never win? No, not that rule either. Then surely, you are thinking, that it has to be the most over quoted rule that goes with being a player on a team - "There's no I in team." Wrong again. The rule to which I refer has nothing to do with athletic performance and everything to do with what happens before and after the actual competition. Simply put, this rule is the glue that binds a team. It is the engine that drives a team to greatness. By adhering to this rule, the total awesomeness of a team becomes greater than the sum of its individual parts.
Time to spit it out. Here goes - What's said in the dressing room, stays in the dressing room. It's as simple as that!
If you haven't been a part of a team, then you probably don't get it. For those of you who have been, or still are, then you are probably nodding your head in agreement. Taken a step further, this rule has been expanded to include team road trips. Therefore, we have "What happens on the road, stays on the road."
My breaking of this rule occurred after I asked my young hockey players if any of them had any allergies. One of the boys, in a seemingly serious state of mind, said that he is allergic to marihuana. The innocence of the remark, combined with the flashback of all those years I spent chasing down users and abusers of narcotics, made it one of the most hilarious statements I have ever heard. As I said, I couldn't resist the temptation, so I blabbed about the kid's malady in an email to all the players' parents. I hope that they laughed as heartily as I did.
I've been a part of so many sports teams that I can't even begin to count the exact number. There's been hockey, softball, soccer, basketball, curling, and even golf. Now that I'm an admitted transgressor of the holy grail of team rules, I'm betting there are an awful lots of former team-mates of mine who hope and pray that will be my only violation. Oh, the stories I could tell. Some of my former team-mates seemed to do a Jekyll and Hyde as soon as our bus or plane went beyond the overpass. Thankfully, none of them have nothing on me. How could they? I was way to busy being boring.
Perhaps the parents of my peewee hockey team also have similar misgivings. After all, we certainly will hit the road this year for one or two tournaments. I can only promise them that any and all secrets and transgressions will be fairly safe with me. I hope that will be enough to convince them and all hands can relax and have fun.
Even if I do write about our road trips, it won't be a big deal. Its not like a lot of people read my blog anyhow. Just in case some of the parents don't see things the way I do, I have an ace up my sleeve. I will pacify them with brownies I will make using my secret recipe. You know, the kind of brownies that kids shouldn't have (certainly not the boy on my team with the unique allergy). These brownies will be guaranteed to make all of the hockey moms and dads really like my stories - 110% guaranteed.
