When I think back on failures during my teaching/leading career, it is easy to remember the moments I wish I could take back - I think we all have them.
The one that sticks out with me, more than many others, had to do with one of my passions - basketball. Over the course of my career, I've had the privilege of coaching kids as young as 3 years old and as old as 18 years old. Depending on the age, we were either trying to simply bounce the ball or we were trying to win a provincial championship (and everything in between).
As much as I have succeeded with basketball, I've also failed. In particular, I think back to one game, early in a season, with a young team. When coaching, I didn't balance the floor time as much as I should have and after the game, a concerned parent approached me on the topic of her child's lack of playing time. Looking back, I now see where she was coming from - but in the moment I was unable to detach myself from our team's loss and my emotions around that. I didn't take the time for us to cool down and ended up in a vigorous debate about coaching, playing time, skills, strategy, etc. etc. - all moments after our game. Needless to say, the results of the conversation were anything but positive and it took me years to attempt to repair our relationship. I'm sorry it happened and wish I had handled it far differently.
Even though that moment was far less than perfect, it has helped me to be a better coach, teacher, leader and parent.
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