In sports, there is a lot of discussion on player statistics—how many tackles they’ve made, free throws they’ve scored—but there are fewer conversations surrounding their coaches’ statistics. Part of this is likely due to the backseat coaches take; most of the attention is on the athletes. But some of this may be because when a coach does hit a big milestone, they do not want to tell anyone.
This is what happened when Adair County Middle School girls’ basketball coach, Mike Sneed, won his 500th game.
“I didn’t want to tell a whole lot of people about it. A few people asked me but… it’s an achievement for (the players) who play for me,” Coach Sneed explained. “I enjoy, after they leave, watching them grow into fine young adults… As you get older, that’s more important than the wins and the losses.”
Coach Sneed’s big win came in a match against Green County on Aug. 13. The 500 number surprised even him, who said he had not been keeping up with it until a friend asked and he saw how close he was.
It was inevitable, however, that Coach Sneed reached such a high number of wins. A former teacher, Sneed now splits his time between his A-1 Auto Supply store and coaching middle school girls’ basketball. This has been his day-to-day life for a long time now.
“I’ve been blessed; I’ve coached a long time,” he said. “I’ve coached several sports through the years but the last several, several I’ve just done basketball.”
What draws Coach Sneed to basketball in particular is the “camaraderie, the team. I just enjoy the fast pace of it and watching these young people develop and learn… (500) is a good number to get to. Not many people stay around middle school that long,” he said, adding that part of the joy of coaching middle school basketball in particular is teaching the “fundamentals and the basic parts of basketball, you know. Passing and dribbling. Each year is different, each team is different… middle school, a lot of these girls are just learning to play. They haven’t played much organized basketball. It’s a joy to watch them play and learn… I’m trying to get them ready for high school. I enjoy it.”
Coach Sneed says that one thing he has learned over the years is that basketball, like any sport, is a serious subject. What may just appear to be a game is really teaching the children how to work together as a team and to be competitive in other areas of life later on. A competitive spirit helps one be assertive and get what someone wants out of their career and life.
That does not, however, mean it shouldn’t be fun at the same time.
“There’s gotta be some fun involved as well. One of the girls said (during) football recognition Friday night, ‘Today’s practice was fun.’ You’ve got to have that in there… if you don’t enjoy something you’re not going to be very successful at it.”
By Kenley Godby
kenley@adairvoice.com
