There are many challenges in playing a team sport. Players and coaches have to work together to be successful. A true test of a solid team is how the team reacts when someone makes a mistake. Do the other players and coaches help pump that player back up or let them waste the game away upset about the mistake they just made?
Weplay Coach of the Week, Bob Ward, and his Michigan Prowlers girls 8th grade, Dewitt, Laingsburg and Haslett team have a bond crucial to team sports. They support one another through the good games and the difficult games. The Michigan Prowlers players and coaches have a unique way of showing that they have each others’ backs.
“...when we make an error on the court, the girls yell out ‘flush it’ that’s when you mimic flushing and that play is gone,” Coach Bob says, “The girls have told me to ‘flush it’ on occasion when I have made a coaching error.”
Coach Bob began coaching basketball because his daughter, Summer, asked him to be her coach. He has been coaching the majority of the girls on the Michigan Prowlers for about five years.
“I coach because I love watching my daughter progress in sports and because the friends and the girls I coach mean so much to me,” Coach Bob says. “I have made life long friends.”
The best thing about coaching for Bob, is watching his players progress to new levels over the years. He also enjoys seeing his players develop lasting friendships with their teammates.
Coach Bob and his wife of 22 years and team manager of the Michigan Prowlers, September, have three daughters, Ashley, 20, Taylor, 15, and Summer, 13.
When the Ward family is not spending time on the court, they vacation at their place in Clare, MI and also spend time with Coach Bob’s parents.
“Poppy and Grammy love seeing their granddaughters and all the girls that we bring up north,” he says. “Our basketball group is just a big extended family and we do so much together outside of basketball. I believe that makes us a closer team.”
Coach Bob Ward’s Three Keys to Coaching Success:
1. Practice hard/play hard
2. Surround yourself with a great assistant coach, great manager, great stat/ score keeper and awesome parents.
3. HAVE FUN!
Coach Bob’s Thought’s on Weplay:
I really like the upcoming events tool.
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