Keith Edmonds is a 32-year veteran of teaching and school administration from Fort Wayne. He coached boys high school basketball as an assistant at Snider High School, North Side High School and was the head boys basketball coach at Elmhurst High School for 12 years, advancing to the Class 3A State championship in 2003.
Have you ever tried to bake a cake or prepare a meal that you would feel comfortable enough to serve to family members or friends? There has to be a certain amount of confidence that goes into the preparation of that meal or dessert that assures you that it’s going to taste just the way you’d want it to taste. Because, you’ve used ALL of the right ingredients along with the time and effort needed to prepare your edible masterpiece.
Coaches, as you approach this season, look at it as you’re attempting to prepare a quality masterpiece with your teams that will (hopefully) be viewed as something that your schools, students, and communities can digest and enjoy!
You’re building a group of individuals that have to be tossed into a gym, add the right mix of youth and “seasoned” veterans, stirred with drills, plays and defenses. And by the start of the season, it is an “eye consuming” dish that ultimately will be a delicatessen!
Now, I know that this is a very rough example of trying to connect food and basketball but I think that you understand where I’m going with this.
The season is upon us, and roughly 350 schools in the state of Indiana are preparing with the goal in mind of reaching the State Finals in Indianapolis in February (Girls) or March (Boys). Coaches are filling their veritable “pots” with what they feel is needed for their teams to be competitive enough to be a “finished product” by season’s end.
It’s always exciting to start a new season with visions of being the “team to beat” as there’s no better feeling than going in a season knowing that THIS particular group could be special.
I hope that each school is adding their ingredients to a pot full of hopes, dreams, aspirations and goals. Indiana is a special place to play basketball, and our state is the envy of many states as they see how passionately we approach our girls and boys seasons.
There will be some games where the pots will be missing a few items and will not taste as good, but when everything comes together some of our area teams will be eating well!
Welcome back to Season 2 of Courtside! Get your tables set, and let’s enjoy what the 2020-2021 season has on the menu, it should be a good one!
Courtside with Coach Edmonds will appear every Monday at Outside the Huddle. These opinions represent those of the writer. No opinions expressed on Outside the Huddle represent those of any of our advertisers.
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