WS Chronicle

By KP Brabham

This informative series provides valuable insight by our local coaches. Previous articles in this series ran in past issues of The Chronicle. This is Part 3 of Coach Gainey’s interview.

Motivating committed student-athletes

Gainey empathized, “I will never try to defer a young man’s dream. I always tell parents to do what’s best for your child. I think sometimes we miss the bigger picture. They can always dream and reach their goals; it might just take a different route or a lot longer. Sometimes the grass isn’t always greener. It’s about relationships too. If you trust me enough to bring your son to me, then trust me enough I’ll do right by him in two years, three years, and his senior year. On that AAU circuit though, someone will always be in your [parents’] ear. One thing I will always lose on is against a coach who makes a promise. I’m never going to promise a kid anything but an opportunity, and he’ll have to earn it.”

Once Coach Gainey’s high school program is rostered for the season, he welcomes parent interactions, but he stated “I don’t discuss playing time, it’s a coaching decision. In the gym with the team, we scrimmage a lot to see who’s best at what. If being fair, 15 kids can be labeled from one to 15 and we’ll be 70% to 75% correct. Everyone knows who the best players are, the shooters, who goes hard, who’s the best athlete, has chemistry, and goals. 

“So, we have a parent meeting before the season starts to explain everything. We have the 24-hour no contact rule after the game. We can always discuss how your son can get on the floor, what he can do better, but playing time is my decision. We won’t compare oranges to apples, we will talk only about your child. Parents see one thing on the floor or a good game and then say he should be playing more. I evaluate how practice was and was he hustling then.

“Everyone has a role, everyone was selected for a reason, and a part of being a team comes with patience. It’s hard for football stars to come out from all-star situations to a basketball season and now is a role-player. It’s hard to transition. Parents discuss with the players to see where their role is and goals.”

Coach Gainey expressed that time commitment is the biggest transition with the level of competition that parents don’t understand.

“When going to high school, maybe 20 kids in one class play basketball, but everything is competitive, and we have to dissect the skill level. The gaps in the level of competition and skill sets exist. Many are first-timers really playing competitive ball. Toughest thing as a coach for me is to cut. As a parent of that kid trying out many years ago, there were tough decisions, it was not easy, and you don’t want to cut anyone, but must be fair in selecting the team. As coaches we get called a lot of names and asked if being fair, but a lot of what we do is open to my parents. Come see your son competing against other kids during our open gyms. All practices in Glenn are open; it’s no secret. You can see what we do every day and know who the better player is or who’s giving that extra effort.”

Traditional high school athletic ability

When I asked Coach Gainey about how all the transfers have affected the stability of programs within the WS/FCS in comparison to some private/public charter schools, Moravian Prep, QEA, WS Christian School, he responded with a chuckle stating, 

“I know of public programs kids left to go to private schools. It’s a two-fold; one, because last year the COVID situation forced a 12-game season, whereas the private schools played 25-plus games even during COVID. Again, I understand that. There are some very good coaches at all three of those schools you just named. I know them personally, but for me, we grew up and attended schools in our district. We took pride in working hard, competing, and being the best in the city. Now parents have school choice. Parents should know that academically they can choose to take their kid wherever they want to. Some days it is tough because you never want to lose a kid. Sometimes you lose a kid, and you ask yourself why. You’re not understanding, we’re building, we’re having success. But it goes back to their own interpretation and what’s best for their child. Sometimes parents get convinced by other people that they need to leave for whatever the reason. In public school, loyalty is not the biggest thing going on.”  

Read the next part of this series in next week’s Chronicle.