Coach Sam hit me

    For our first post, Kristian, Luis and I decided to do something physical and hands on. We all had many ideas and suggestions to were we could go, but we didn't know who would let us volunteer. Luis brought up the idea of coaching a youth sport and I instantly thought of the Irvington Community center. I had worked at the center as a basketball coach for most of summer and the winter basketball season. I still had some connections and called in a favor from my ex-boss Joe, and he passed me on to his side kick Robin, who was glad that I wanted to come back to share my vast knowledge of basketball with the kids and set up a date for us to volunteer ASAP.

    So we showed up to the center at 4:30 pm, the time I came in for work normally when I was a coach, and brought down the hoops and brought the balls out and prepared before the first class began. The kids started to show up around 4:50, 10 minutes before class began, and a bunch of the kids I had coached in the past ran to me with huge smiles and made me feel like I made a real difference as a coach. the first class was a group of 3-8 year old's, who's basketball skills are very limited. I led the stretches and warm-ups and we broke into 3 stations. I was in charge of the shooting station, and had Kristian and Luis help with dribbling and footwork. This group had some really small baller's so we had to bring the hoops down to 8 feet, but it was still difficult for some of the younger kids to shoot the ball that high. after all the group had been to each station, we broke into team's of 5 and played a few scrimmage games that the coaches took part in. I got a bit to into the game and dunked on the lowered courts and kicked a 4 year old in the face, the worst part was the kids mom was in the stands.
 
    I really felt like I made difference in the kids game,and I had a good time bounding and playing at the same time. The kids look up to us so much, I had some shadows at practice that would copy every thing I would do and where their socks like mine. You have to be careful around them, you don't want to have them copy anything that won't help them receive the brightest and best future. Volunteering with the Irvington Community Center helped me to understand how much of a role-model older kids can be toward younger kids and that you have to show them positive habits for them to be better people.


 I tried to get pictures of the kids but some of the kids parents didn't approve it ahead of time legally so I kinda took  a few pictures "illegally"