Jeremy Conn: Youth Basketball; Proud Coach & Pappa

I had one of my proudest moments as a Father and a Coach in a game on Monday night. My Perry Hall team is in the Playoffs and we were on the brink of elimination. We were down 5 points to North Harford and there was roughly 2 minutes left to go in the game. My team had been playing poorly the whole night and my one best player was sitting out with a back injury.

My son Peyton is a good player and understands the game better than most kids his age. I'm still waiting for him to get some sort of growth spurt to help him out. Peyton isn't a starter on the team but he knows his role.

I had a game earlier this year against Emmorton where my son got lost in the shuffle in the second half and only played 2 minutes. We went on to win a crazy game in which both teams scored in the sixties, but we beat a very good team that Perry Hall hadn't beat at this age group before. I felt great as a coach, but as I looked at my son and felt horrible as a father. I was so into the game that I neglected my bench and let my starters close the game out for the most part.

Back to the game on Monday night... My son hit a 3 pointer to cut the game to 2 points, then we gave up a layup. We were down 4 points with about a minute left. Then one of my other players knocked down another 3. I called timeout and quickly had my team go man to man on defense. I told them "Go for the steal, if you don't get it, then we'll foul." My son ends up stealing the ball from the kid he was defending. My team is down 1 with the ball and about 18 seconds left. My guards are swinging the ball at the top of the key and it gets thrown to my son with a wide open look for 3. Without hesitation he stepped into the shot and drilled it. He was so excited. He was jumping up and down and smiling from ear to ear.

I was as well.
 
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