Looking back at high school, most of my memories revolve around the sports that I played.

Yes, the late night bus rides, the team atmosphere and pregame scream singing will be at the top of my fond memories, but looking back, my coaches are the ones that made the biggest impact.

To my high school coaches,

Thank you for believing in me. I know that that's part of your job, but you pushed me--both physically and mentally--to be the best that I could be. I didn't know it at the time, but you were preparing me for what was to come in the real world. (Yes, my parents taught me these things too, but there are only so many things that teenagers are going to listen to their parents about, it's just a fact).

You taught me to get up when I got knocked to the ground, and to help others up when they're down; to be a team player on and off of the court. Along with that, you taught me to deal with people that I may not particularly like and to work with them for the sake of the goal that brought us together in the first place. In practice, you'd repeatedly say "it's the little things that matter"--referring to the little mistakes that needed improvement, and holy heck you were right. The little things sure do add up. I've applied so much of what you taught me to my adult life, and it's definitely helped shape me into the adult (that still watches SpongeBob) that I'm proud to be.

Much like the real world, opportunities won't just be handed to me. Bench time and a good attitude earns what is wanted, and I can't thank you enough for building that self motivation that so many young adults my age lack. You filled our heads with words of encouragement, and didn't sugarcoat anything. If we had a bad attitude, you told us, and if there wasn't an improvement, there would be consequences.

Although at the time it seemed like your intention as a coach was to win as many games as possible (which is very well one of your intentions), looking back, I know that you were putting your heart and soul into your players for the sake of their adult lives.

After a loss, you would ask us, "Is the sun still gonna rise tomorrow?" And of course our answers were yes, and that's all that mattered. But after a win, you taught us to be humble (right after screaming BULLDOGS at the top of our lungs after the break in the locker room so that the other team would hear us 😉). You really did instill in us that winning wasn't everything as long as we knew that we gave it our all--to brush off a loss and focus on the improvements for the next game.

So thank you, Coach, for teaching me more than how to set a pick or close a block. Thank you for teaching me to be a team player on and off of the court.