This is not only the season for holidays but also for basketball. My cousin is launching his coaching career in the YMCA league. His team, the Goats, is made up of nine-and ten-year-olds. I caught up with him for an interview after their first game.

Coach, the Goats got off to a rough start.

I was glad that they stopped keeping count once we got down 20 points to nothing.

How did you feel about the game going in?

I learned on the drive to the gym that our best two players were sick with the stomach flu. Another kid came in wearing a facemask just to tell me that he couldn’t play. But he did want to pick up his jersey.

Those light blue jerseys look sweet.

Yeah, the kids take pride in them. But our opponents did have their own squad of cheerleaders. That was a clue that we weren’t exactly evenly matched.

Any other surprises before tip-off?

I had hoped that some of the taller players were actually big brothers just there to watch, especially the kid who looked like he could use a shave.

Several reporters noticed that you were diagramming plays on your dry-erase board during the timeouts.

I was circling the basketball goal in hopes that our players would get back on defense, as opposed to wandering around outside the three-point line, watching the cheerleaders.

How about your offensive strategy?

It’s all about the fundamentals. We need to concentrate on passing to our teammates, you know, the guys wearing the same jersey color.

We interviewed one supporter after the game who, despite the loss, is still firmly in your corner.

Where is my wife anyway? She’s probably waiting in the car. Can we wrap this up?

Sure, Coach, just one more question. How would you describe team morale?

Pretty good, actually. They got to pick our team’s name and the color of their jerseys. Despite the score, they seemed to have fun. And win or lose, there’s always ice cream.

Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of “Little Big Moments,” a collection of mini-essays about parenting, and “Tigers, Mice & Strawberries: Poems.” Both titles are available most anywhere books are sold online. Taylor-Troutman lives in Chapel Hill where he serves as pastor of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church and occasionally stumbles upon the wondrous while in search of his next cup of coffee.

 

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