“The Huddle Effect”

“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”

Proverbs 27:17

Basketball has been the predominant (if not, the only!) sport I’ve loved growing up and will always be the sport that’ll keep me on my toes ’til I get older. I became a fan of the game back in high school when I first saw Larry Bird posters being sold on street corners nearby school premises and watched some blurry, old videos of him torching his opponents from (by then) “advanced” Nokia phones of my classmates. Subsequently, I irrevocably became a die-hard supporter of the Big Green, Boston Celtics!

From being a fan of basketball superstars who chased individual accolades, I’ve fully transitioned to loving the game as a team sport.

As of this current school year, I have been given the privilege to become an integral component in the game I love most as the Assistant Coach of my school’s basketball team – the Sentul Eagles! This is quite frankly my first year of coaching and I’m thrilled to co-lead and serve these young ballers in their pursuit to skillfully excel and use their talents for a greater purpose. Needless to say, once I embarked on such responsiblity, my understanding of “teamwork” had the word “accountability” written all over it!

• Ensure that all equipment is ready before each and every practice ✅ 
• Fulfill the role of Assistant Coach within the Senior Varsity team, but be the Head Coach of the JV team. ✅ 
• Assist players in circumstances that involve medical aid (which meant I’m in charge of the medical kit for every game and practice). ✅ 
• …and my personal favorite (as instructed to me by my Head Coach)..be a motivator/encourager in the team whether it’s before, during, or after training sessions and games. ✅ 

All of these individual responsibilities resonated most perfectly during (in my opinion) one of the most crucial moments in both basketball trainings, scrimmages, and games – huddles. This is where accountability was voiced and exercised the most.

From my lens, I initially thought that huddles were exclusively chief avenues for coaches to impart strategy and further instructions of gameplay to their players. Within this school community, I’ve observed that huddles, amazingly, also give opportunities for our players to straightforwardly share what works offensively or defensively for them as a team and accountably correct or motivate each other towards winning and character building. As accountable as I am to the responsibilities I endeavor to uphold as an assistant coach, I have never seen such display of accountability within a group of young ballers who can spur each other in basketball wisdom and integrity – be it in victory or defeat. It’s fascinating to watch all of these unfold during huddles that last around a minute or two.

Furthermore, aside from the encouragement each player receives during huddles, it is also in these moments where prayer is lifted before and after each game – a prayer to be thankful for the camaraderie and brotherhood exhibited by the team. This may be trivial for some high school teams out there, but in the cultural context of where I’m at currently, this is HUGE and I’m deeply in awe every time GOD is included in basketball.

One of the most notable fruits of this “Huddle Effect” happened last November 2022. Our team competed against several schools for the ACS Basketball Tournament. Not only did the team participated, they came to win it all!

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During the last minutes of their Finals game, it was all about how much they needed to push each other to play basketball to its nearest perfection through teamwork, solid effort, and the pivotal moments of encouragement every player had towards each other.

Huddles, when surrendered to GOD, definitively work wonders.

Didaskalos,

Joseph L.