Today, I will be interviewing Mr.Jones. He is the EMS 7th-grade basketball coach, and that will be our main topic today. He is a great coach and an admirable person I look up to. Jones, thank you for coaching my season, truly the best coach I could get.
Q: What made you want to be a Coach?
A: I have always loved sports. Moreover, I love competition. Sports allow me to be competitive, and since I’m too old to put on a jersey, my only opportunity is to coach! Also, as a teacher, building relationships with students outside the classroom is an awesome experience!
Q: Who or what are your biggest influences in coaching? Why?
A: My biggest influence is my dad. He wasn’t a coach for schools, but he did coach my Little League baseball team. My friends told me they liked him because he never yelled and was nice. I can’t say that I do those two things, BUT I try to mirror his personality when I coach.
Q: What do you look for in a good basketball player?
A: What I look for in any athlete, or sport, is the willingness to compete, work hard, and put the team above yourself. Also, I like people who play hard on defense.
Q: What are some of your favorite coaching techniques?
A: I have a few techniques, I can’t say they work- or are effective- but they are what I do. First, I try to build or reinforce positive actions or choices. Then, honesty. Being honest with players is critical to building trust.
Q: What is the most challenging part of coaching? How did you get through it?
A: I would say it is dealing with the different types of personalities and kids on the team. Some kids might be motivated by me getting all up in your face and talking loudly, and others might shut down and not play tough. So learning your players is always tough. And how do I get through it? You build relationships. I mean, the best part of getting through it is finding out what buttons to push to get the most out of the kids. Sometimes you mess up and you’re not perfect, but you get through by getting to know your kids. You’re gonna have to accept you’re not going to be perfect.
Q: What has been your favorite moment in coaching?
A: It varies. Sometimes my favorite moment coaching is when a kid who hasn’t made a basket all year finally makes a basket in a B-Team game. It’s two points in a B-Team game, which in the end doesn’t mean a lot to the team, but to that kid, it means everything. For a kid who never scores points, that’s a favorite moment. Getting to play in our league championship last year in seventh grade was a favorite moment. At a football practice this year, I had a water slide after we beat Seman; that’s a favorite moment. A lot of your favorite moments aren’t necessarily a win; my favorite moments in coaching are moments that the kids will remember.
Q: How do you want to be remembered by your players?
A: Jones wanted to win, but he didn’t put it above doing it right. Treating players how they need to be treated, holding kids to standards they need to be held to. I just hope I made them better players through the game that I coached. Use basketball or football to learn other life skills, I just hope they had a good experience.
Q: How would you describe your coaching style?
A: It depends on the day. Some days I’m Bobby Knight, where I have to yell and scream and get all I can out of my players. And some days I’m John Wooden, where I don’t have to scream as much. My coaching style is a lot like my Dad. I fail a lot, but I try. I find the right buttons to push to get the most out of them.
Q: What is your favorite part about coaching overall?
A: Getting to build relationships with kids outside of school and seeing them have success. So if I can’t put on a jersey and play, watching other people get that feeling in some ways makes me feel like I’m playing. And seeing the kids have fun.
Q: What is the best way you celebrated a win?
A: Getting my picture taken and put into the Emporia Gazette after the girls won the league four or five years ago. The best way was with a league championship.
Q: What is the worst way you celebrated a win?
A: I’ve only beaten Junction City twice in football, and the last time I beat them I had to make all the boys run because they did a stupid TikTok challenge. So TikTok is also one of the most challenging parts of coaching.
Q: If you were to change any part of basketball, what would it be?
A: I would want the middle school to have longer seasons. One season, we had 4 games before any practices. I will also say this, more kids going to games. I wish the school as a whole had more support for sports. When I went to middle school, I went to a 2A school and we had a band, and y’all don’t have a band that plays at games.
That is it for the interview. Thank you so much for letting me interview you, Mr. Jones. It was such a cool experience learning about you and your story with coaching. Again, thank you so much, Mr. Jones. Your coaching wisdom will live on forever.
