'A Coach' - Reflections on Humanics - Sept 19, 1997

This column titled “A Coach” is part of a series of reflections written by Springfield College’s Distinguished Professor of Humanics Joel Dearing on September 19, 1997. ; Dearing was Springfield College’s Distinguished Professor of Humanics during the 1997-1998 academic year. During this time, he started a weekly column in the Springfield Student newspaper called, “Reflections on Humanics.” In his column from the week of September 19, 1997, Dearing begins with a trivia question and a chance to win a free lunch. The question is, “What was the title of the Humanics lecture given in 1988 by Professor James Robertson?” Dearing provides a hint that the Humanics lectures are on the Springfield College website under Babson Library. He then goes on to start his reflection “A Coach.” Dearing states he remembers being discouraged a second string JV basketball player his sophomore year in high school. He had a dream of playing on the varsity team at Sterns High School in Maine. Upon catching the varsity coach in the locker room one day, Dearing asked him what he had to do to make it. The coach replied that he better practice harder than anyone else. Therefore, Dearing did some math and came up with a goal for the summer before his junior year to practice for 500 hours. He goes on to explain his daily schedule consisted of 3-5 hours of drills in the morning, usually alone, and then evening challenges of competition on the playground with kids in his town, some of them being former State Championship players. Dearing explains how he began to improve that summer and started to believe in himself. At tryouts in the fall, Dearing was one of the last to get picked for the team, but he made it. He goes on to explain that he became the starting point guard for most of the season. Junior year, his coach asked him what his plans were for the future. When Dearing responded saying he wanted to teach Physical Education and coach, his coach told him he needed to go to Springfield. Dearing goes on to explain the details of the rest of ...