A Proactive Coaching podcast interview with Andy Affholter — recently retired girls basketball coach at Granger High School and former boys basketball coach at Mabton High School in Washington's Yakima Valley — hosted by Bruce Brown as part of the "Best Coaches You've Never Heard Of" series. Topics covered: growing up the son of a coach and learning by observation (Dean Smith as a long-distance mentor); focusing on the process over the product; the poverty poster and "we will not have a bad day"; the turning point of inheriting a good team at Mabton and the power of being believed in; advice to his younger self about work-life balance; wanting basketball to be the thing players remember first about high school; EWPA and a near-spotless technical-foul record; building player-led teams where seniors serve the younger kids; Sports Illustrated features as his reading habit; advice for the next generation ("lose the battle to win the war" — youth basketball is too focused on winning); and his most important goal: relationships with his players after basketball.
Coaches · Podcast
We Will Not Have a Bad Day
Andy Affholter, retired girls basketball coach at Granger High School (WA), on the poverty poster in his locker room, winning with undersized teams, and losing the battle to win the war.
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