0'fer

My colleague in the Social Studies Department was part of the title of today's blog post, but he has indicated that he isn't complete sold on the title.

In this case O'fer represents 0-for-the-season regarding wins.  The case in point was the 8th grade girls basketball team that I coached and earlier this week ended it's season 0-for-13...or "O'fer".  Is an O'fer season a waste of time and energy, or can a group of athletes benefit from participation in a sport despite winning any games or contests?

                                          photo by John Holbert

I'd like to report that it's been my experience in coaching that EVERY student-athlete I've ever coached benefited greatly through participating on a team sport.  That would be inaccurate because the number of benefits experienced by each student athlete is largely dependent on him/her.  Here are factors that are relevant.

• coachable - participants that recognize and appreciate coaching benefit more that participants that aren't very coachable
• considerate of others - participants that want to see their teammates be successful often benefit more from a team experience over other participants that are more individualistic
• realistic understanding of abilities - participants that have an accurate understanding of their athleticism and skill set have a greater opportunity to improve.
• grasp of the "big picture" - participants that understand the "journey" are better able to see the importance of each practice and each contest and each activity and value those opportunities more than other players that don't or can't connect their future with their present

With these four factors, players that participate on a team will benefit through their participation regardless if a championship or even a single game was won.  An O'fer season isn't necessarily a losing season and by no means should ever be considered a waste of time if players learned how to be coachable and considerate of others.  In addition, if they developed a realistic understanding of their abilities and developed an understanding of how a particular year fit into their overall progress, they likely experienced improvement.

O'fer seasons can be frustrating, but they can also honestly be rewarding and will eventually lead to winning.

Have a successful day today!