Call me, "COACH"

There are a few specific things I've wanted to do while attending BYU-Idaho, so I created a little bucket list for myself while I was a freshman. Here are some of the things I wanted to accomplish or do while being a student here:

*Be an EFY counselor
*Get a boyfriend :)
*Experience my first kiss
*Take on a high church calling
*Move out with random roommates
*Go on a cruise with all girls
*Give tours of campus
*Be in a class with Aubrey
*Attend cool concerts and plays
*Become a teacher
*Take on leadership opportunities
*Make the Symphony Orchestra
*Befriend someone seriously in need
*Participate in sports on the competitive league
*Go on lots of fun and crazy dates
*Get married in the temple
*Take a religion class from Dad
*Learn how to take tests
*Graduate with a grade point average higher than a 3.5
*Take a cooking class
*Be an I-team leader
*GRADUATE WITH A BACHELOR'S DEGREE
and
BE THE HEAD COACH OF A GIRLS COMPETITIVE B-BALL TEAM

I've successfully accomplished the majority of this list so far and only have a few more to check off my list. I didn't know if I'd ever make this dream come true to be a head coach or not, but I made it happen! I knew it was a unique opportunity for me to be a head coach here on campus because we are a church school. I knew this experience would enrich me socially, physically, mentally, emotionally, and most importantly, spiritually. Plus, I didn't have to worry about getting fired if I did a bad job or not! That's the greatest part about this university . . . it's a training ground. BYU-Idaho provides so many opportunities for us students to learn and take on leadership positions. All I had to do was sign up for the job :-)

Of course, I couldn't have done this alone, so I asked Ethan, Chalyse, and Staci if they would be on board with me to do the job. All three of them agreed- YES! So this is how it went for the season:

HEAD COACH
Ashley
ASST. COACH
Chalyse
ASST. COACH
Staci
BABYSITTER :)
Ethan

(Chalyse, Me, Staci)
Oh I love these girls! It was so fun being able to coach and be around my two great friends again. Both Chalyse and Staci helped me so much throughout the season and they gave me the support I needed to make this experience a success. We had a lot of fun together--THANKS GUYS!

LADY BRUINS
These are the amazing girls I got to coach:
Back Row: Me, April, Myra, Shandy, Sam, Jacquie, Staci, Chalyse
Front Row: Annalise, Annie, Kenzie, Maddie, Shantell H, Shantel T.

You can just tell from the smiles on their faces and the looks in their eyes that they are all good girls. I couldn't have been blessed with a greater group of girls to coach. With all their different personalities and examples, they ended up teaching me a lot throughout the season.

Before the season even officially started and before I knew who my group of girls was going to be, my mind started going crazy with ideas. I was thinking about practices, drills, team bonding activities, spiritual thoughts, plays, rules, expectations, and everything! I was losing sleep already! After thinking long and hard, I finally decided that my main goal for the season, no matter who was put on my team, was to teach the reality and significance of exemplifying Christ in all that we do--even in a game of Basketball. Sounds crazy and dumb for a basketball team? Ya, sure, some people might think so, but they can think what they want. God should be the main focus in everything that we do.

This is why I chose this for my personal goal as a coach. I wanted to help them understand this. Too often we get caught up in the things of the world and with athletes especially, sometimes they/we get so caught up in the game and winning that we don't remember what's truly important.

"True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior."
Boyd K. Packer

All I wanted to do was to help them UNDERSTAND as best as I could. I knew that if I could do that, and even help just ONE of them understand this about exemplifying Christ in basketball, I knew that they would change their own attitudes and behaviors for the better. I knew the spirit would then do the teaching for me.
Some other things that were neat about this experience is that we were to focus on our weaknesses and expose them to one another. I've discovered that there is great wisdom in doing this. This is the only way we can become better people; no matter how hard it may be at times. So to help accomplish this goal I decided to have the girls each keep a personal journal for themselves. They brought them to every practice, they wrote daily goals each day, they sometimes answered specific questions that we asked them to think about, and they wrote periodic reflections as well. At the end of two weeks, we would gather their journals and read them.

This was probably my favorite part of the whole experience because of a few things A) It allowed me to get to know them better as individuals and players, B) It provided a time for them to ponder and think about themselves and to write those thoughts down, C) It allowed us coaches to help expose their weaknesses to them and provide suggestions on how to make them strengths, and D) we were able to give them compliments and praise on what they were doing well. I truly believe that through using these journals during the season (along with some other things), we were able to be taught by the spirit more and we became more united as a team. This is why our team got so much more out of the season compared to some of the other teams in the league. We grew a lot as players and individuals.

It's interesting that most of the things I learned throughout this experience have very little to do with actually playing Basketball. Don't get me wrong, I did learn a great deal about coaching, motivating, planning, subbing, plays, drills, teaching, explaining, and more, but these other lessons I've learned are the things that have made me grow most from this experience.

A few of the things that really stood out to me were these:
1) Coaching is harder than it looks and seems. Even though the game comes naturally to me, coaching wasn't so easy. I didn't sleep well most nights because I was too busy thinking about the girls and the plays and the other teams and what else I needed to do for them etc... It definitely takes practice and dedication to do a good job.

2) To be a true leader, you must lead by example. When you're in a leadership position, you can have a great influence on those you are over. You can set the mood, you can help change attitudes, and you can take time for teaching moments. "Teachers can tell but cannot teach, until they practice what they preach."

3) Spiritual needs first: I've realized that when I put CHRIST first in everything I do, he blesses me and helps me achieve the desires of my heart.

4) Motives: have you ever thought about what your motives are before doing something? Have you ever stopped to think, "What is my motivation for doing this?" Most people, probably don't, but the next time you decide to do something you should try it. I've found that if I think about WHY I am doing something before I do it, I discover if I'm doing it for the right reason or the wrong reason. It keeps me humble and on the right track.

5) Being an instrument: I know the Lord uses us to be His instruments in this life. He can best use us when we have prepared ourselves and are living righteously. He puts people in our path throughout life when we need to learn something or when we need lifting. For some special reason, these specific girls were all put together on the same team--and it wasn't just a coincidence.

6) Effort in = Effort out: as a coach, I noticed that when I gave my full effort and all the energy i possessed into coaching, I learned a great deal more and was more successful with the girls. The few times that I did not plan out a practice schedule or when I forgot to a personal prayer beforehand, things didn't run as smoothly and we didn't get as much out of it as we could. I could see, firsthand, that the girls who tried as hard as they could to be a leader, write in their journals, practice B-ball skills, and to make it a good experience, were those who got the most out of the season.

7) Helping others: I can see now, why coaches have assistants. I could NOT have done this job alone and been as successful with it. We need to realize when we need help. I also couldn't have done it without the help of Ethan. Ethan agreed to help me out because he knew how badly I wanted to do this. He sacrificed a lot of his time so that I could do this and I am so grateful for his support throughout the season. (With this, I realized that if I am to do this in the future, I'm going to have to decide if coaching is worth being away from my family so much.)

8) The power of LOVE: I just keep realizing more and more that Love is the most powerful force on earth! Love makes us do incredible things; love makes us happy; love makes us act differently; love makes us strong etc. When I came to love and care about these girls and when I tried to show that to them, I noticed that they did it back to me.


I know a lot of these things I learned seem random and totally not connected to Basketball, but that's what makes it so neat. I didn't expect to get these things from the season, but I'm so grateful I did. Being a coach has taught me so much about myself and about how I can help others.

I had a blast dressing up for our games and trying to give pump up speeches (haha), I enjoyed the stress that came with figuring out who to sub & when to sub, I learned how to cope with bad sleep at nights, I enjoyed preparing for practices and games, I looked forward to our spiritual thoughts before practices and the discussions that followed, and I LOVED getting to know each of the players. I've really come to love these girls and I'm actually quite sad that the season is over and we are all going our separate ways. I'm grateful that they were in my life this short period of time and for how they have helped me and made me happy :) This has been a highlight of my BYU-Idaho experience and I will never forget it.