Bias

Last night we played like fifth grade girls. We lost. Sometimes you lose something bigger, perspective, as in "you're never as good as you look when you win or as bad as you look when you lose."

The Good:

• I told one player that despite "a million" turnovers, she played well enough in the context of seeing what was there and trying to make that happen. Errors of COMMISSION we understand. Errors of NO MISSION must be eliminated.
• The team continues to be very supportive of each other. They've surely tired of hearing us tell them to advance the ball with their head up and play "possession by possession".
• The girls did not quit, slicing a ten point deficit with about 1:30 to go to four points.
• Individual improvement, always variable player to player, week to week. 
• Ongoing great support from the parents. 

The Needs Improvement:

• Turnovers. "The ball is gold."
• Individual defense.
• The coaching. ATTRIBUTION BIAS says, blame everything else, the conditions, the officials, et cetera. If the individual defense isn't good enough, maybe we haven't taught them enough.
• Rebounding. Position and desire define rebounding. We're not getting enough rebounds, and those who can improve their rebounding and/or become shutdown defenders will add great value to the team. 

Frustration defines normal in competitive sports. But our long range goals for our players remain to help them become a team that can achieve special accomplishments. And we know that we will have to encourage them to play hard at all times to get there.