Letter to Coach [Letter 1]

Dear Scafidi,

It was my freshman year and I wasn't even gonna show up to tryouts. Actually, I didn't even show up to the first day. I look back at that time, and I'm actually kinda happy that Ms. Samek pushed me into a corner and basically forced me to show up to the second day of tryouts. I got so much out of that season, it's unbelievable, and some of those things I owe it all to you.

I waltzed into tryouts the second day pretty much knowing that I was going to make it on varsity. I've played basketball my entire life, and on top of that, I played with the boys, which made me more aggressive than the other girls. But, I didn't have fundamentals. When going up for lay ups, I would jump off my right foot. Since I never played organized basketball, I was never aware of this mistake.

I will never forget about the practice where you isolated me from the entire team. You made me do lay ups for a good half an hour, by myself, on one half of the court, practicing to jump off of my left foot. I struggled. I really did. I got aggravated. I wanted to give up. But you knew that I had the potential to be a great basketball player, and you never let me quit. Throughout the 06-07 season, I struggled from time to time. There would be plays during practices and even games where I would fuck up. And it was no longer you telling me that I made a mistake, I was then learning to realize my own mistakes. During the 07-08 season, I got better at it. It was all muscle memory and my body finally learned to memorize it. I don't remember the last time I jumped off of my left foot when going for a right handed lay up.

I've always had a nice jump shot; the only problem was that my form was hideous. Before high school, my shots would go in simply because I was talented; sometimes it went in because of luck. But you helped me better my form. "Elbow over your knee," those are the only words that go through my head when ever I shoot the ball now. Those are the words that pop into my head whenever I miss a shot and I keep it in mind the next time I'm shooting.

You're tough on us a lot, you scream, you yell, and you know exactly how to push our buttons. You push us further, make us go the extra mile, and you give us the same amount of hard work that we give you. Although some of the girls on the team take what you do or say out of proportion, I don't. I could not imagine having any other coach for this team. If you were not the coach, I don't think that I would try as hard as I usually do. I appreciate everything that you have done for not only me, but for the team. You have never let us down and regardless of the victories you always realized our improvement. For this, I thank you.

You are a great coach, and don't let anyone tell you differently.

Love,
Dora #33