Mt. Spokane Endures A Steep Climb In Basketball Success Isn’t Judged By Wins For Wildcats
The losses continue to mount as Mt. Spokane nears the end of its first basketball season in the Greater Spokane League.
In fact, the Wildcats are oh-fer in both the boys and girls standings.
And for the most part, the first-year Mead District school has not had many close games, although the boys opened the season with a nonleague win over East Valley.
“Do I think the whole season has been a disaster?” girls coach Jeanne Helfer asked. “No. I never said the values of sports is predicated on whether you win or lose.”
The long-time Mead coach, with an almost unparalleled string of success before she accepted a new challenge, has had her low moments.
“Yeah, it is hard,” she admitted. “(The girls) have youth on their side. They’re resilient. They don’t overreact to situations like adults do. They probably taught us a little bit.”
Her counterpart with the boys, Bill Ayers, a long-time Mead assistant, is bursting with enthusiasm as the season draws to a close.
“There have been some years I couldn’t wait for the season to end,” he said. “These kids come out every day and work hard… . It’s been a learning experience… . Now I wish the season was just starting.”
On several occasions, the Wildcats boys have been within striking distance well into the second half, but have continually come up short.
“We just have a difficult time putting four quarters together right now,” Ayers said. “I’m really pleased with their work ethic. Everyday they come out excited. It’s energizing to me. I’m having a great time.
“We just have a hard time maintaining our composure, but it’s coming. You can see they’re learning and they’re believing they can compete with these teams. “
The girls have had a tougher time. While the boys have stuck together, a couple starters from last year’s Mead junior varsity team didn’t turn out for the girls.
Injuries also depleted Helfer’s depth.
“I still have expectations … but my expectations are at a different level,” Helfer said. “I think they’re getting better. It’s small steps. You don’t expect a baby right when they start walking to take off running. Right now they haven’t had a chance to see the positive side of their hard work.”
What has impressed Ayers, who was at Mead for 15 years, is his competition.
“The coaches in this league are outstanding,” he said. “This league is as tough top to bottom as I’ve seen. … Are we disappointed where we’re at, record-wise? I am. I feel like if I had done a little better job we might have a couple wins under our belt.”
But several times when they were close, his counterpart made an adjustment to foil the Wildcats again.
“Everyday we have to find ways to point out to the kids one way they won … make them feel like they came away with something,” he said. “Even if we go oh-and-18, they’re learning… .”
The players are learning Ayers’ program, developing court sense, position play, skill development, knowledge of the league and “they’re taking away a belief they can play with these guys.”
On thing Helfer misses, after a seven-year run that included seven trips to state and seven top-five finishes, including three championships, is the chess matches.
“My fun in coaching has always been in the game strategy … and there isn’t any of that for me,” she admitted. “You can’t just judge whether you’re successful by your wins and losses… . We try to accentuate the positive.
“I think we gain a lot of valuable stuff by these kids being involved and these kids learning what it is to pay the price in practice. I think those same life lessons are applying to these kids just as much as it did to state championship kids, but it’s not nearly as fun.”
Ayers said, “It’s been rejuvenating to me. I’m not used to losing like this, but these kids are winners.”
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