Are you REALLY fed up?

We played FEAST on Tuesday - one of the teams we have a mental block against. I think we have only beaten them twice in my 7 years with the Royals. What a waste of a drive to San Antonio. We didn't even put up a fight.

The day before, I asked the girls to read Ezekiel 3:1-15. In this passage God told Ezekiel that he was to speak God's words to the Israelites. God also told him that the Israelites were hard-hearted and would not listen to Ezekiel. God made Ezekiel's face as hard as theirs and his forehead like adamant stone harder than flint. The idea here is that Ezekiel was going to have to be tough in order to stand up to all the persecution he would face. The girls were to read it and tell me something about it and how it applies to us.

The reason I had them read it was because I really felt like we needed to be tougher. When I was in church one day a couple of weeks ago, I thought of this...I guess the Lord was showing me I needed to share this with the girls. We had already had a few chats about Ezekiel because that is what I was reading, so this fit right into our theme for the season.

So before the game, we sat down and had a pow wow to talk about this. They all understood exactly what I wanted them to get out of it. I basically told them we were done having fears on the court. They needed to toughen up. They had to be done with being worried about what they just did or what they might do next. None of it mattered. All that mattered is the moment and fighting in the moment. All we are facing is the fear of making a mistake. We aren't facing what Ezekiel faced.

So, it didn't work. I told them I was going to look like an idiot slapping my forehead to remind them to toughen up. We did nothing...the scores were 14, 19 and 20. It was one of those days where I wondered why I coach. I try to hear from the Lord about what to say and do and it doesn't seem to matter. I know I am frustrated with them and it shows. I just know they can be better. But I'm the coach and I have to keep talking and motivating because you never know when one girl is going to be impacted by one thing I say.

At the end of the match, all I said was that I had nothing to say and I would see them on Thursday. When I left I called Scott and vented for about 5 minutes about how I was a loss...again...about what to do.

So Thursday at practice, I asked the girls if anyone had anything to say. One of my captains said that she was fed up. I asked with what? She said with feeling like that...leaving a game like that... ( I don't remember her exact words) but I knew exactly what she meant and that is exactly what needed to happen. Several of the other girls agreed. I could tell that they meant it. And I saw a huge difference in the atmosphere of the gym the next 2 days.

Maybe since I'm not God I couldn't make their foreheads like flint instantly. It took some time. Hopefully something will sink in.