The First Step To Recovery Is Coaching A Group Of Misfits To A Youth Sports Title
Time to admit you have a problem: the Baby Bulls need your help.
Addiction tests the mettle of every man, woman, and old grouch who has lost his love for the game. Though recovery is a lifelong journey, it begins with just a single step: coaching a ragtag group of misfits to a youth sports championship.
Of course it’s hard for an addict to admit they have a problem in the first place; it’s easier to ignore that the Baby Bulls are at the bottom of the standings and there are only five weeks left in the season. That’s why most people are more comfortable living in denial, giving power to falsehoods such as “I can quit anytime I want” or “I can’t even get these kids to tie their shoes, let alone play together as a team!” But the uncomfortable truth is that the only way to recover is to accept you have to get through to these young athletes, so that they can get through to you, as you mutually redeem each other through several montages of laughter and learning.
There’s no room on this journey for self-pity. You can’t waste time and effort complaining that other people don’t have the same struggles that you do, like being stuck with all the worst players in the league. Kids like the chubby kid, the kid with the inhaler, the kid who is way too young to be on the team but it was the only way his older brother would be allowed to play, the kid with the foul mouth, the kid with glasses, the kid who is actually the best player but doesn’t realize it for some reason, and the motley collection of other ragamuffins who will really give you the business. It can be hard to accept that this is your lot in life and that there’s even a girl on the team. But if you do move into acceptance, then you will find these kids are wise beyond their years and that both you and they are capable of things you didn’t think possible.
No, this is not the only part of recovery. You will still need to make a list of the people you’ve hurt, apologize to those people, and forgive yourself for hurting those people, but what’s most important is making sure the Baby Bulls are ready to run a zone defense in their showdown against the Green Hornets next Saturday, so really put your energy into that.
Naturally, there will be times you doubt this really is a necessary step at all, but in those moments just remember that coaching this team was also a part of your crazy lenient sentencing. Miraculously, you ran into a judge who decided that asking you to coach a bunch of kids twice a week was a fair punishment for your seventh DWI and third possession charge, and for some reason, he didn’t see a problem with placing a group of minors in the charge of a lifelong addict who hasn’t gotten help yet. You might not understand why this judge took a break from locking up all sorts of less-privileged people for much more minor offenses to place such belief in you, but that’s only because you don’t believe in yourself yet.
Trust in this process and you will learn to trust yourself again. It’s as the old Prayer says:
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and the ultimate trick play that I can bust out when we need it most.
Repeat this mantra as needed.
Above all, remember: this is not a straight path. It’s an up and down journey that many have to revisit over time. But try not to worry about that for now: that’s what sequels are for.
