Second-year Bolingbrook Raiders boys basketball coach Rob Brost offers up his first post for The Brook Blog. His Raiders will open the season on Nov. 25.
When Sean asked me to write a blog about our team and the upcoming season, of course I said I would. I anticipated that I would simply summarize our collection of talent, give a brief description of their individual strengths and write about where I think our team fits into the conference, etc: a preview similar to the ones that every other paper wants.
Then Sean said, "There are a lot of high expectations for this team from the media, parents, fans and other coaches, could you write about what your expectations are for this team." This was no longer a fact finding article were I simply could list our strengths and weakness, player profiles, etc.
Simply said, I would hope that "my" expectations of this team would become "our" expectations. In other words, I hope that my expectations would become those of the players, assistant coaches and even our managers and OUR expectations would be one in the same.
My expectations have nothing to do with wins and losses or our record. Furthermore, my expectations include our actions in the classroom, on the court and in the community.
My expectations begin with our EFFORT. It is not fair to anyone associated with our team if we, as a group, don't give supreme effort each and everyday. Ultimately, it is my job to demand accountability as it relates to our effort and that is what I attempt to do everyday.
My second expectation is TRUST. Trust in the system we have put into place and more importantly, in each other. When adversity comes (and it always will) we need to be able to trust the system and how we play as well as trust each other. Put in terms most teens would understand, we need to "have each other's back."
My third expectation is that we DO THE RIGHT THING. This is easy to say, but often times hard to do. This will mean making difficult decisions that will require us to be unselfish and put the team before ourselves.
My fourth expectation is that we COMMUNICATE. This is a lost art in today's society. We need to learn to communicate appropriately and at the appropriate times. Like my good friend Larry Stewart always says, "It is not what you do, it is how you do it."
We talk about COMMUNICATING on the floor every day at practice with the understanding that if you COMMUNICATE well it helps everyone do their job better. This is true off the floor too and is a good lesson for our players to use later in life.
At the end of the day, if MY expectations become OUR expectations and WE hold each other accountable in all these areas the wins and losses will take care of themselves. WE cannot get caught up in the "expectations" of others and WE need to continually concentrate on giving supreme EFFORT, TRUSTING each other, DOING THE RIGHT THING, and COMMUNICATING well to ensure that WE reach the expectations we have of ourselves. In the process, we will have developed better young men as well as better basketball players.
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