There are those who view sports as just a meaningless game and there are some who view sports as an integral part of life. For some, success on the hardwood is no more than a means to an end, a way to achieve other financial or career goals. However, for others, basketball is more than just a game, it is a lifestyle by which players and coaches live by. Tru Game 2021 Head Coach Love understands the importance of using basketball as a means of teaching life skills that continue long after the ball stops bouncing. I had the opportunity to interview Coach Love and gain insight from her 20 years in the game and find out what makes her 8th grade team so special.
Finding female coaches on the sidelines in male basketball has been and remains a rarity. The NBA currently employs only two female coaches (Becky Hammond and Nancy Lieberman), while the NCAA men have only seen 3 female assistant coaches in its history. As a female coach in a male dominated profession, it can be very difficult to develop an engaging relationship with 8th grade boys; however, Coach Love has never viewed gender as a barrier to success. In fact, Coach Love believes that she, as a female coach, can care for her players in ways that many male coaches simply cannot. “You [have] to give respect to get the respect back,” Coach Love said. The way she does this is by making sure that her players contact her once a week, year round, so she can better establish the relationship, which has resulted in her players having a special, unbreakable bond with her.
Loyalty is one aspect of a relationship that many people do not emphasize. For Tru Game, loyalty is one of the reasons for the team’s success. They have been with each other for more than 2 years, and when their organization decided to branch off from NEO Shooting Stars- a team formerly sponsored by LeBron James- no player ever questioned the move. “Family looks out harder for each other [more so] than strangers,” Coach Love responded on her players’ decision to stay. This family atmosphere has allowed the players to passionately play for her, and has resulted in Tru Game having one of the best teams in Ohio.
Even though Tru Game 2021 is one of the best teams in Ohio, they make sure that their players are considering life outside of basketball. They do this by exposing their kids to different colleges and social activities. Coach Love’s long tenure as a respected coach has created opportunities for her players to build relationships with current college stars, including the likes of Sophomore Duke Guard Luke Kennard. Through her affiliation with Kennard, she was able to give her players a tour of Duke’s campus, which really opened the players’ eyes to how the life of a college athlete works. Special activities like these are part of the reason why Tru Game players are so focused; they know that if they put their mind to something, they can achieve it.
As the spring AAU season awaits, Tru Game is in the process of establishing goals for the upcoming season. One of the most important goals for Tru Game is to gain sponsorship. As a team that is unsponsored, Tru Game has to raise its money from donations, which primarily comes from fundraisers- a time-consuming task. A sponsorship would take away the stress of trying to raise so much money and allow the team to focus on developing their skill. Another goal for Tru Game is determining whether it should become a part of a league, such as the NYBL- a well- respected middle school league that boasts some of the best teams in the nation. If they join a league, they know that they will consistently play against competitive teams; although, being a part of a league also means more commitment. Though Tru Game has a lot of goals to accomplish and decisions to make, do not be surprised when they start taking captivating audiences with their family style of play next spring. This makes them a prime candidate for a bid for next year’s IndiWorld Championship.
