I need to be honest with you about something.

My high school basketball team is 2-8 right now. Two wins, eight losses. And if you'd asked me a few years ago how I'd handle a record like that, I probably would've told you I'd be losing my mind.

But here's the thing—I'm not panicking. And if you're a coach struggling with a losing record right now, I don't want you to panic either.

Let me explain why.

The Patience Problem

When I started coaching high school basketball, I had this naive vision that after the first week, kids would buy in completely. They'd do everything I said, give each other high fives, bring great energy to the bench—all of it.

The honest truth? It takes at least three months just to start seeing results if you're starting from square one.

Three months. Not three days. Not three weeks. Three months.

And if you really want to see transformation? We're talking six months to a year. That's when the message really hits. That's when you look at a kid and think, "Whoa, they've gotten a lot better."

The Ego Trap We All Fall Into

Here's what I've noticed about myself: I'm a very competitive person. When I'm coaching against other coaches, there's this natural ego that kicks in. You start comparing yourself. You start making excuses about your team. You get frustrated and want to word-vomit all over your players.

And worst of all? You start judging your worth based on your win-loss record.

But I refuse to do that anymore.

At the end of the day, wins and losses come down to two major factors: talent and coaching. I can control my coaching. I can't control the talent that walks through my door as a high school coach.

What I can control is continuing to teach. Continuing to educate my players on how to be better basketball players and how to become a better team.

When Reality Doesn't Match Your Expectations

Let me paint you a picture of what we're dealing with.

We're at a school with a small gym. We're sharing it with varsity basketball, girls' basketball, and outside organizations that rent the space. We've had less practice time than we need. Some days, we can't even get on the court.

Yesterday, we gave up 81 points. Eighty-one. For a team I'm coaching, that's unacceptable.

So what are we doing in today's practice? We're working on defense. Because here's what I've learned: if something's not translating to games, we haven't done it enough in practice. And that's on me as a coach to prioritize and get it done.

The Classroom Lesson That Changed Everything

One day during media day, we couldn't have an actual practice before a game. It was frustrating. But you know what I did have? Time. And access to a classroom.

So we talked about commitment.

I taught them what it means to be on a team:

• When is it acceptable to miss practice? When is it unacceptable?

• Is it all about me, or do I have to celebrate other people?

• Do I have to accept a role? Do I have to shoot less? Do I have to play defense?

These are the things I'm teaching. Because we're working with young people, and we can't assume they know this stuff. It's our job to teach.

The Defense That's Taking Forever to Teach

My team doesn't like to pressure the basketball. The players I have have built habits over time—years of playing without pressuring the ball. For those of you who aren't basketball people, think of it as a style of defense.

Changing that habit is going to take time. At least three months for us to get really good at it. And you know what? A lot of times, the basketball season is only two to three months long.

So we'll see all the progress and be playing our best basketball right as the season ends. That's the unfortunate part. But that's also the reality of teaching real, lasting skills.

When Practice Needs to Be Uncomfortable

Today's practice is going to be challenging. The players aren't going to like me today, and I'm okay with that.

They're going to have to work their butts off. If they're not communicating, they're either going to do it again or they're going to run. (Actually, I'd rather have them do it again instead of running—repetition builds habits better than punishment.)

I realize now that they need more discipline. And sometimes that means tough practices. Sometimes that means they leave frustrated. But if they're not pressuring the ball or communicating in games, it's because we haven't done it enough in practice.

The 21-Day Rule

Here's my rule of thumb: if we've covered something in practice once, twice, even three times and it's not showing up in games—that's not enough.

But if you cover it 21 days in a row—21 straight days—and they're still not doing it? That's a different conversation. Maybe what you're doing is wrong. Maybe you need to adjust your approach.

But you have to give it that time first. That's patience.

The Real Job of a Youth Coach

I'm not sitting here accepting our 2-8 record and giving up. I'm going to coach my butt off. I'm going to be intentional about working and getting better.

But I'm also not going to promise we'll be a .500 team or a championship team. All I care about is getting better. That's it.

As a youth coach—and yes, even varsity coaches are youth coaches—your number one job is to help your athletes become better at the sport and better as people:

• Better teammates

• Better leaders

• Better communicators

You're teaching life skills. Because here's the reality: most of the athletes you're coaching aren't going to play collegiately. They're definitely not going to play professionally.

So how are you helping prepare them for life beyond the game?

Patience: The Most Important Skill

Patience is the most important skill I feel like I've learned as a coach. And it's a challenge you're going to face with every single team.

You might get that one team every ten years that comes in and knows exactly what you want to do. But for the other nine teams? It just takes time.

And that's both the fun part of coaching and the headache of coaching—when you leave practice thinking, "We covered this already!"

But covering it isn't the same as mastering it. Teaching isn't the same as learning. And expecting immediate results is setting yourself up for disappointment.

Plant the Seed, Water It Daily

Some plants take longer to grow than others. Some kids come into your program ready to go—eager to learn, already understanding the system. But most need consistent teaching, day in and day out.

You have to plant the seed and water it every single day. And you have to trust that the growth is happening, even when you can't see it yet.

The Bottom Line

If you're 2-8 right now, or 1-10, or whatever your record is—don't panic.

Keep teaching. Be patient. Focus on improvement, not just outcomes. Remember that the scoreboard doesn't define your value as a coach.

Your impact is measured in how your athletes grow as players and as people. That's the transformation that matters. That's what lasts long after the final buzzer sounds.

Because at the end of the day, we're not just building basketball players. We're building leaders, teammates, and humans who know what commitment looks like.

And that's a win, no matter what the scoreboard says.

If you got value from this, share it with a friend, parent, or coach who needs to hear it. We're transforming youth sports together—one patient coach at a time.

Full Episode Transcript

[0:00] I am going to share a current challenge I am facing as a high school basketball coach and I'm sure it's a challenge many of you are facing as coaches and even if you are listening as parents. I think this is one of the biggest things that I have grown. When I think back to my first year of coaching high school basketball, I thought after the first week they buy in, they do everything I said, they'll give each other high fives, they're going to be great energy on the bench, all that stuff. Here's the honest truth: it takes at least 3 months to just start seeing results if you're starting from square one.

[0:32] You are listening to the Beyond the Scoreboard podcast, transforming athletes into leaders on and off the court with host Coach Furtado.

[0:46] Coaches, are you ready to take your passion for coaching and turn it into a full-time career? I know the challenges firsthand, but the Make Money Coaching Sports Program helped me take BTG basketball full-time. If you're tired of juggling coaching part-time and want to fully focus on doing what you love, this business accelerator will give you the tools and support to make it happen. Hit the link in the show notes below to learn more and start living your dream.

[1:12] Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Beyond the Scoreboard podcast. The podcast that is transforming youth sports together. With that being said, I'm your host, Coach Justin Furtado. And in today's episode, I am going to share a current challenge I am facing as a high school basketball coach. And I'm sure it's a challenge many of you are facing as coaches and even if you are listening as parents. So that challenge is patience.

[1:47] Patience. Now, my team—I'm a very, very competitive person. The team I'm coaching right now is two and eight. Obviously, two wins, eight losses is not a great record. That's not what I set out at the beginning of the year. Right now, point blank, we are not a good basketball team. I'm not panicking, though. And here's why. Number one, as youth coaches, anyone can argue that varsity coaches are still youth coaches. They need to obviously focus more on winning and losing than a JV coach does. JV coach's job is not wins and losses, it's improvement. Now, if we finish two and 20 and we don't win again and no one's improving, then no, I'm not doing my job and that's unacceptable.

[2:39] So, with that being said, we're two and eight. And I feel it. You feel it. You coach them. I'm coaching every game hard. And we have this ego. I feel this ego when I'm coaching and when I'm coaching against other coaches. It's natural to want to compare ourselves to be like, oh, you know, either start making excuses number one about our team and then number two just get really frustrated and just, you know, whatever you want to say, word vomit all over the players, you know, make excuses and judge ourselves and really put our worth on our win and loss record.

[3:17] At the end of the day, I'm not going to judge myself. I don't think my value as a coach is going to be based off of win loss. Number one, win loss has to do with multiple factors. Obviously talent, talent and coaching. Those are two big factors. I can control my coaching. I can't control the talent. I can't, you know, as a high school coach, I can't control who comes through my door. What I can control is continuing to teach, continuing to educate my players on how to be better basketball players, how to become a better team.

[3:53] And some of the challenges that we face—we've had less practice. I'm at a school where our gym is small and we're sharing it with other organizations. We're sharing it with varsity basketball, with girls basketball, with organizations that rent the gym. We're facing all of that and so there is a time constraint. We haven't practiced enough. I cannot expect as a coach if we have not practiced enough—practice is where you build all those habits and when we go to a game and we don't perform the habits that I want, things I'm really thinking about.

[4:27] We'll just talk about defense. Yesterday we gave up 81 points which for a team that I'm coaching is unacceptable. So in practice today what we're going to do is we're going to work on defense. That way when we play tomorrow, we're not giving up 81 points. That's not acceptable. I'm not saying accept your team's two and eight or whatever it is. I'm saying be patient and keep teaching. Be patient, keep teaching because it takes time. You have to plant the seed and then you have to water it every single day.

[4:58] And some plants take longer to water. Some you may get some kids that come into your program that are ready to go. They're eager to learn. They know exactly the system. But for me, I have to teach them what I want consistently day in and day out. We've had a little bit of a commitment issue. So yes, one of the days of practice during media day, we didn't get to have an actual practice before a game, which was unfortunate. But what I did have is I had time. I had access to a classroom.

[5:24] So we talked about commitment. I talked to them and I taught them about commitment. What does it mean to be on a team? When is it acceptable to miss a practice? When is it unacceptable to miss a practice? What is that requirement? What does it mean to be a part of a team? Is it all about me or do I have to celebrate other people? Do I have to accept a role? Do I have to shoot less? Do I have to play defense? These are all things that I'm teaching and we as youth sports coaches, we are working with young people. We can't assume. It's our job to teach.

[5:56] And I think this is one of the biggest things that I have grown. When I think back to my first year of coaching high school basketball, I thought, you know, after the first week, they buy in, they do everything I said, they'll give each other high fives, they're going to be great energy on the bench, all that stuff. Here's the honest truth. It takes at least three months to just start seeing results if you're starting from square one. That's my opinion. Now, I'm talking about results, not necessarily wins and losses. You could probably win.

[6:26] But if you, you know, let's say you have my team, my team, we don't like to pressure the basketball. We have built—the players I have have built habits over time with them playing, not pressuring the basketball. So that's a type of defense if you're not a basketball person. So with that being said, it's going to take time for them to learn how to pressure the basketball and be comfortable and build that as a habit. It's going to take at least three months for us to get really good at doing that, which a lot of times, how long is the season? Two to three months.

[6:59] So, a lot of times we'll see all the progress and you'll be playing your best right as the season ends, which is the unfortunate part. And then if you really want to talk, thinking about coaches, parents for athletes, this is just from my experience, you know, with BTG basketball, coaching high school basketball, if you really want to see that transformation, it's at least six months, if not a year. A year is when you really start to see—I have some kids that were in my BTG basketball program who were just—they would come to BTG, but more importantly, they go work on their own.

[7:34] And then that compounded over time and you can see after a year you're like whoa, this guy, this girl, she's gotten a lot better. I would say you start to see results three months out and then six months is really where you're like okay the message is hitting. That's my big thing that I wanted to come on and talk about and share the experience that I'm going through and talk to you as a coach.

[8:02] Now here is what is acceptable. Say we're two and eight. I'm still going to go coach my butt off. And one of the things that I'm realizing is they need more discipline. Today we're going to have a challenging practice. I'm going to challenge them. And they're not going to like me today. They're just not. They're going to have to work their butt off. If they're not communicating, they're either going to do it again or they're going to run. And I would rather have them do it again actually instead of run sometimes.

[8:26] But I realize in a game if they're not pressuring the ball, they're not communicating. We haven't done it enough in practice. If it's not translating the game, it has not been done enough in practice. And that is on us as coaches to prioritize that and get that done in practice. It's obviously frustrating. We've had the few practices that we have had. It's frustrating when it doesn't translate right away. We have to have patience. That is the most important skill I feel like I've learned as a coach.

[8:56] And one of the challenges you're going to face with every single team. You may have the one team every 10 years that comes in and knows exactly what you want to do. It just takes time. And that is the fun part of coaching and the headache of coaching where you leave and you're like, we covered this in practice. Covered in practice once, coach. Covered in practice twice, three times. Now, if you cover it 21 days in a row, 21 days in a row and they're still not doing it, that's a different conversation. Maybe what you're doing is wrong. I don't know.

[9:30] I'm just speaking from my perspective and my opinion and how I'm addressing it. I'm going to coach them hard today. I'm not accepting the 2 and 8 results. And I'm also understanding that if we really are intentional about working and getting better, I'm not going to sit here and say we're going to be a 500 team, we're going to be a championship team. All I care about is getting better. That's all I care about.

[9:50] You as a youth coach, that's your number one job is to help your athletes become better at that sport and become better as a teammate, become better as a leader, become better as a communicator, teaching them all the life skills. Most of your athletes that you are coaching are not going to play collegiately, not going to play professionally. So, how are you coach helping prepare them for life beyond the game?

[10:16] So, if you got a lot out of this episode, share it with a friend, a parent, a coach, and make sure you subscribe to our channel. This is the Beyond the Scoreboard podcast. We are transforming youth sports together. I'll be in your eyes and ears next week. Coach Fit out.

[10:34] Thank you for listening to this episode of the Beyond the Scoreboard podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure that you subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and share it with a friend, coach, or parent you feel would get value from this episode. It's our responsibility to impact as many parents and coaches who are the ones that are impacting our athletes. That's how we create a ripple effect. So, thank you for being a part of our community and we look forward to serving you all next week.