How is Basketball a Metaphor for Life?

Today is the start of the high school winter sports season. For the first time in 28 years, I will not be the head coach of a high school girls basketball team. I must admit that this is a bit of a jolting event as I will definitely miss the team aspect of coaching and working with amazing athletes and coaches in putting a team together. However, it will great to have a lot less stress and much more free time to be a “fan” at games as well as continue the mentoring and consulting work I have started. Best of luck to all of the athletes and coaches (and parents!) who will spend the next 3 ½ months of their life dedicated to the great game of basketball!

There have been a number of articles recently about low numbers in high school girls basketball, with at least 3 good sized schools across the state unable to field a varsity team. I don’t want to spend time talking about the causes of dwindling numbers, instead, I want to talk about the positives of participation. In many ways, basketball is a metaphor for life, and many lessons can be learned from being a part of a basketball team, either as a player or as a fan. Here are 4 that come to mind:

1. EVERYONE NEEDS TEAMMATES:  In basketball, great teams have everyone working together and everyone relies on each other.  The success of the team depends on how well that team is connected and pulling for each other.  The same is true in life.  If we don’t have people helping us and working with us, we will never be as successful as we could be.  We not only need to get help from others, we need to be supporting those around us as well.

2. SOMETIMES WE NEED TO TAKE A TIME OUT AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS:  In games, sometimes the other team gets on a great run and you need to take a time out to stop that momentum and adjust the team’s plan in order to have success.  In life, sometimes we get going too fast and get down the wrong path.  it’s at that point that we need to slow down, take some time, and adjust our plans or our goals.  A time out gives us time to take a deep breath, evaluate the situation, and made decisions to help us move forward.

3. WE NEED TO TRANSITION QUICKLY FROM ONE PLAY TO ANOTHER:  In basketball, at one time you are playing offense, and then very quickly you have to sprint back and switch to defense.  Within seconds, you are back on offense.  If you can’t transition well and adjust to change, your team will get beat.  In life, we are constantly being hit by change and have things come up that we don’t like or agree with.  If we focus on one thing without moving on, we ultimately will not be as successful as we could be.

4. WE SOMETIMES FAIL AS MUCH AS WE SUCCEED:  If you look at many of the statistics of basketball, many times players fail more than they succeed.  A 40% 3 point shooter is a great shooter when they are actually failing 60% of the time.  Basketball teams can’t always control what the other team does and sometimes we lose to teams that are just better than us.  Adversity hits every team that has ever played-how do they overcome those obstacles many times determines how successful the team is.  The same is true in life-not every day is going to go perfectly for us-we may have an issue with a co–worker, our boss may make us upset, or a customer may question our work.  Failure is going to happen to all of us-it’s how respond that will ultimately determine how successful we are in life.

So as you begin to either participate in or watch basketball games this season, what other life lessons do you see that you could add to the list?  If you watch closely, you will see there’s more to the games than just who wins and loses and much can be gained from being a part of the process. Have a great week!

Coach K