Keep on Coaching
February 1, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A few weeks ago, I finally got my first chance this season to watch a friend coach his basketball team. After guiding some others at the lower levels, this is his first time running the varsity – something he wasn't sure he wanted to do with a 1-year-old just learning to walk, but a challenge he ended up taking on to the benefit of all those involved.
Simply put, he’s good. I've seen a lot of teams and a lot of coaches over the past 15 years, and although I wouldn't know much of what to do if I were walking the sideline, I felt pretty qualified in telling him I was impressed – even if he didn't buy that I was offering an unbiased opinion. The best news is he’s gone from not sure about this a few months ago to talking about next season.
We know, at least anecdotally, that coaching continues to get more challenging. The time commitment has grown substantially to make running a program a year-round endeavor in a lot of sports at a lot of schools.
That commitment – especially for coaches with children of their own – was a main reason referred to in a New Haven Post-Chronicle story Saturday that noted 23 football coaching openings in Connecticut at one point this offseason. That state has 146 football teams – meaning roughly 15 percent will have new leaders this fall.
And that got me thinking about my friend, about how glad I am he’s given this a shot, and how I've seen so many others either not do so, or not stick around long despite having some pretty nice success.
A study published last winter in Interscholastic Athletic Administration magazine – a product of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association – noted some predictable results of a study that sought to determine the biggest challenges faced by first-year high school coaches.
The toughest according to the study was balancing the demands of coaching and teaching, experienced by nearly half the respondents – 98 percent of which coached high school teams and 81 percent of which are teachers.
The next six reasons all were noted by at least 30 percent of those in the study – personal fatigue, securing community support, securing and caring for facilities and equipment, parental contact, keeping non-starting players motivated, dealing with schedule interruptions and motivating athletes to achieve consistent, peak performance.
Nothing there is earth-shaking, and most if not all of these challenges are faced by high school coaches regardless of how long they've been in the field. But I got a little more perspective from some of the 32 items that ranked as least challenging to the first-year leaders – keeping in compliance with state and league regulations, dealing with substance abuse issues, teaching sport skills and creating a positive team atmosphere – things that seem most important, and yet appear to be easiest to do. I’m not sure what that tells us – but I think it tells us something.
Click to check out the entire three-page breakdown of the study, plus the researchers’ recommendations to remedy some of what first-year coaches face.
Giving back to Saginaw
I love reading about high-level athletes – like a star-studded group of alums from Saginaw – giving back to where they got their starts.
Pittsburgh Steelers star LaMarr Woodley made a big impact before the start of this school year by donating $60,000 to cover all participation fees for athletes in his former school district. The Saginaw News’ Hugh Bernreuter writes today about how Woodley (Saginaw High), the Philadelphia 76ers’ Jason Richardson (Saginaw Arthur Hill) and former Oakland Raiders standout Stu Schweigert (Saginaw Heritage) have combined to give more than $865,000 back to their home communities.
Bernreuter also mentions the non-monetary contributions of the Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green (Saginaw High) and former Indianapolis Colts receiver Blair White (Saginaw Nouvel).
Click to read more about it.
Quote(s) of the Week
While rifling through more papers on my desk, I found an article from the Washington Post from Sept. 2011 titled “How high school sports save our schools.” I was drawn to it in part because I spent more than a decade in a newsroom, and it was a piece by a reporter covering education who instead of reporting on school boards and the like, delved into the importance of interscholastic athletics to education as a whole.
He spoke of how participation continues to grow even as resources dwindle, and of data supporting that extracurriculars like sports are more effective than academic classes in teaching leadership, teamwork, time management and “other skills crucial for success in the workplace.” Later, he mentioned a study noting that those who participate in extracurriculars earned more a decade later.
Click here to read the entre piece. These passages struck me most.
“Coaches might be the only faculty members still allowed by our culture and educational practice to get tough with students not making the proper effort. They have the advantage of teaching what are essentially elective non-credit courses. They can insist on standards of behavior that classroom teachers often cannot enforce because the stakes of dismissing or letting students drop their courses are too high. …
“Students do better in activities they choose. If we provide more of them, led by committed adults … that can make a difference. We know the bad news about education. Dropout rates are high. Achievement scores are stagnant. But sports participation is going up, despite pressure to cut it back. Let’s cheer about that and look for a way to draw in more students.”
Ribel's Return Sets Up TC Central for 2nd-Half Rebound, Postseason Push
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
January 19, 2024
Best of three.
That’s the perspective Traverse City Central’s varsity basketball team has as the Trojans travel to play undefeated Cadillac tonight. And really, they have the same vision for most of their Big North Conference opponents as they reach midseason.
Central has hopes of getting in two or more wins against those rivals with a third meeting likely coming during the postseason. Central also is hopeful of getting to play those conference and postseason games with their leading scorer Anthony Ribel healthy and in the line-up.
Ribel missed the first seven games this season with a foot injury, including an opening day 68-33 route by the Vikings on the Trojans’ court. He will be in the line-up this time – and the Trojans are a much more confident and experienced team than they were in the first meeting.
Cadillac is entering tonight 10-0 overall and 5-0 in the Big North. Central, 2-8 but coming off its highest-scoring game in 15 years (a 94-50 victory over Alpena), owns a 2-3 league record. But the Trojans haven’t given up winning the conference title just yet. Ribel’s injury occurred at practice just three days before the season opener, and since returning he has averaged 30 points per game.
“Cadillac beat us pretty bad,” second-year coach Ben Fischer acknowledged. “The guys are very motivated to show them how we play Trojans basketball.
“Anthony is a big addition – it goes without saying,” he continued. “We’re a much different team offensively and defensively than we were before.”
Last year, the 6-foot-3 Ribel broke the junior-season scoring record at Traverse City Central previously owned by Dan Majerle, who played 14 seasons in the NBA, made three all-star teams and helped the U.S. Olympic team to a bronze medal in 1988. Ribel scored more than 600 points and also eclipsed the 1,000-point career mark during his junior campaign.
Despite missing the first third of this season, Ribel has a shot at Majerle’s career scoring record of 1,388 points. He started this winter with 1,133 career points after joining the varsity as a freshman.
Ribel recalled how he struggled through Cadillac’s lopsided win in the season opener while sitting the bench. Cadillac dominated the inside game, and Ribel is confident that will change tonight.
“When you lose at home by that much, it is embarrassing,” Ribel noted. “We have a lot of extra motivation.
“We’re less worried about what they can get from outside — we’re more worried about what they can do inside,” he continued. “We just have to take over the paint the best we can.”
Ribel led the way with 25 points in the Alpena win. The Trojans also got contributions from Owen Ribel (20 points), Brendan Slack (12 points), EJ Maitland (10 points), Jaden Clark (10 points, five assists), Jack Potgieter (nine points, eight rebounds) and Ethan Rademacher (five assists).
“We’re starting to find our stride.” Fischer pointed out. “Guys are getting a lot more dialed into their roles. We have relied on a lot of guys who didn’t have much experience coming into the season. Now they know they can go out there and compete having played some really good teams already.”
Slack is averaging 11.2 points per game and Maitland is contributing 10.1. Potgieter and Anthony Ribel are collecting six rebounds per game. Maitland and Potgieter kick in more than two assists.
Owen Ribel, only a sophomore, is also making a big mark for the Trojans. He’s thrown down a few dunks and had the 20-point effort against Alpena.
Owen and Anthony are the sons of past Trojans standout Ryan Ribel, a key team member of the last Central team to win a Regional, back in 1996. As a junior that year, Ryan Ribel averaged 17.5 points per game.
This season’s potential District opener opponents include the Big North’s Gaylord, Alpena, Petoskey and Traverse City West. Marquette also is in the District. The Trojans have wins over Alpena and Petoskey and lost to Gaylord and West the first time around. Anthony Ribel’s second game back was against West. He scored 19 points, but the Titans prevailed 64-59 with some strong free throw shooting down the stretch. Cadillac is a possible Regional opponent.
Regardless of tonight’s outcome, the Trojans will look forward to every rematch that comes their way as they hope to win all of their best-of-three series – of even sweep them.
“We’ve got a really good group of young men who are hungry to compete,” Fischer said. “Our biggest goal is to win Districts and hopefully Regionals. We’re getting a little bit better every single day.”
Anthony Ribel agreed.
“My teammates were put in some uncomfortable positions to start the year,” he said. “I think it will benefit us for the rest of the season.
“Getting the chemistry back with each other is going to be important,” he continued. “We need to string some big games together with all of us healthy, and make a good run.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Traverse City Central’s Anthony Ribel, left, gets to the basket during his first game this season, against Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern on Jan. 2. (Middle) Ribel elevates for a jumper. (Photos by Rick Sack, TC Rick Photo.)