Blogging the Journey #3: Coach K
01 October 2008
At the Starting Line: As the moment of truth approaches, Coach K writes about the heroes who inspire him to reach for the stars.
On my way out to Las Vegas for the first meeting and practice of our Olympic team, I was fortunate to be able to make a pretty amazing pit stop. My wife, daughter, and I stopped through Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where my old friend and West Point player, General Bob Brown, picked us up from the airport. Bob and I have remained very close over the years and I have followed his Army career the same way he has followed mine in coaching.
In the summer of 2006, my first summer as the National Coach, then-Colonel Brown came out to Las Vegas with three wounded heroes and addressed our team. His theme was selfless service. It was the best possible way our team could have kicked off our three-year commitment together. I did not yet know back then who my team was – this was our first opportunity to get acquainted with one another. But when I saw their reactions to General Brown and the soldiers, I knew this was a team I wanted to coach. I knew they had heart.
One thing I am always asked about with regard to being the National Coach and coming to compete in the Olympics is about pressure. How are we handling the pressure? Will we live up to the pressure? How is the pressure affecting us? When I addressed the troops at Fort Leavenworth, it gave me a humbling sense of perspective. I believe that what we are doing is important, trying to reclaim the game of basketball for our country. It is a form of selfless service. But what we are doing is nowhere near as important of what our service men and women do every day. We are playing basketball. They are protecting our right to do that.
What happened that afternoon was mutual motivation. Talking to them about serving the United States helped give meaning to our endeavor. The thing we do share with our country’s soldiers is who we represent. We share a love of country and a commitment to represent the United States with honor and extreme pride. Whatever I was able to give them in the form of inspiration, I am honored to have been able to do that. Whatever connection they feel with our Olympic team as we pursue the gold in Beijing, that is an honor to all of us. But we cannot repay them for the service that they do for our entire nation, a service that often goes thankless.
We are all patriotic, but the soldiers are the true patriots. With the Olympics about to begin, we can only hope to make Bob Brown and the rest of our soldiers proud as we embark on our respective missions. We all want to come home winners.
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