This game being framed as some return of a wronged hero RE: Wemby, rather than a guy who was very fortunate he wasn’t suspended after wildly flagrant elbow to an opponent’s throat is just wild to me.
Kyle Shanahan said, "The guys that I like are the guys that I know what I am getting."
"The guy who is the same in adversity as he is when someone is praising him, that’s the guy I want to follow."
It means bring consistency in your actions, attitude, and approach.
Competitive character is not “wanting to win.”
Everybody wants to win.
It’s whether your habits get sharper when you’re frustrated. Whether you can take hard coaching without making it personal. Whether you stop negotiating with the standard the second it gets uncomfortable.
Pressure doesn’t build character.
It audits it.
Coach Biwan over the course of 10 years built and established a respected and competitive program and developed players who had success in high school and moved on to the collegiate level. So Blake School leaders, with an Interim- AD, buckle to threats of an individual or individuals, to pull their donations to the school because of playing time, especially during the 2026 tournament run????? - how sad and selfish plus a poor life lesson for their children. Hopefully Coach Biwan will have coaching opportunities in the near future to continue his proven abilities to teach, coach, and develop student-athletes while building a respected and competitive program.
We don’t have a classroom management problem.
We have an emotional regulation crisis that teachers are being asked to handle.
Somehow, “classroom management” has turned into:
• de-escalating trauma
• supporting anxiety and depression
• calming panic attacks
• breaking up fights
• being cursed at, threatened, and even assaulted
• being the counselor, social worker, and crisis team
And at the same time…
we remove the very things that actually help:
• recess
• movement
• art
• play
• connection
Teachers aren’t trained for this.
And they shouldn’t have to be.
Classroom management was never meant to do all of this.
It’s about:
relationships
rules
routines
responsibility
That’s it.
It was never designed to replace what families, communities, and systems failed to provide.
And until we stop offloading every societal failure onto schools,
teachers will keep drowning under expectations no human can meet.
How you do anything is how you do everything..
Lazy student? Lazy basketball player
Disrespectful to your parents? Disrespectful to your coaches and teammates
Late to class? Late to practice
How you live your everyday life translates to the basketball court
Avoid the “cool guy” mistakes
•Missing lay ups because your putting something “extra” on it
•Turning it over because you don’t want to throw the simple pass
•Being lazy in practice/workouts
•Going through the motions in warm ups
•Prioritizing getting “yours” over wins
Houston HC Kelvin Sampson - Why Coaches Fail
- "I think the coaches that fail at every level, are the coaches that are passive aggressive. Passing aggressive coaches are usually afraid to hold kids accountable, they rationalize."
- "If you're going to build a culture, the first thing you have to come to grips with, you're going to have confrontation."
- Consistency
- Competence
- Confidence
- Confrontation
Basketball Scriptures!
Play to your strengths.
Play off 2 Feet.
Limit Turnovers.
Make free throws & layups.
Be able to catch & shoot.
You check these boxes you’ll find PT!
Parents, one thing I can promise you about youth sports:
You will blink…
and your son or daughter will be graduating.
The years move faster than you think.
Along the way, remember your role.
Your job is to support, not to drive the engine.
The best athletes learn to self drive.
Motivation has to come from within.
Parents who create the environment of support give their athletes the best chance to grow.
Help your athlete develop the right mindset as well.
Do not let their identity become tied to the game.
That does not mean we do not want fierce competitors.
The best athletes hate losing more than they love winning.
But their worth is never defined by the scoreboard.
And when it comes to choosing teams and programs, remember something important.
Care less about which team your player makes.
Care more about whether they are:
Developing the right way.
Playing for coaches who truly care about them.
Part of a program with a proven track record of success.
The right environment will shape your athlete far more than the name of the team they make.
Because when the experience is over, what will matter most is not the trophies.
It is the person your son or daughter became along the way.
Wise words from Joe Mazzulla about how winning isn’t everything:
“At the end of the day, if you have a bunch of wins, but you don't have the relationship with the guys, it's pretty empty.”
“You're in it to go after stuff, together with people, and to be a part of someone else's story and someone to be a part of yours.”