The Power Of Trust
...belt with a buckle in the shape of the very state he called “home “(Texas), and what looked like alligator-skin boots that stood out from a mile away. That was Michael Verde, otherwise known as Coach. His knowledge of basketball was comparable to the knowledge an average twelve-year old would have about the stock market. On the other hand, this twenty-eight year old journeyman had wisdom beyond his years, which he gained through his experiences as an author and teacher, and the time he spent working with Alzheimer’s patients. This wisdom became evident in his speech during halftime of our first game of the season, which we trailed 28-2.
“Guys, I don’t give a crap about the score,” he said, “right now, this is about more than whether or not we win or lose a basketball game. This is about us as people, and the kind of people that each and every one of us is.” We realized as his speeches went on throughout the season that Coach was a very poetic man, and he loved the soap opera-type speeches that brought us all together. The fact of the matter was, though, that they were usually spot on and very effective. “Now, what you guys were runnin’ out there was no play I taught you. Looked like a play called “dipshit”. And we don’t have a play called “dipshit”. You guys need to look each other in the eye and learn to trust one another and know that if we run “Duke”, Dave will do his part, Andrew will do his part, Nick will do his. This is about trustin’ one another, boys. Havin’ each others’ backs. If we can’t trust the twelve guys in this room, not only will we lose over and over again, but I will have failed you all as a coach. We are a team, a unit, and we can not function without trust…” His speech went on for a while, as we missed our warm up time and eventually the referee had to come force us out of the locker room to finish the game. That speech, which we...
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