Diary Series: Scott Garson, Asst. Coach - UCLA

The holiday season is such a different time of year for professional and college coaches and athletes compared to the world outside of sports.  In my 14 seasons involved in college basketball, I have been home for Thanksgiving a grand total of three times.  While most people gather around their Thanksgiving turkeys with family and friends to watch the NFL games or the big time college hoops tournaments, the coaches and athletes are hard at work.  We are either competing that day or in the office and on the court practicing to improve our teams during a crucial period of the season.  This is the time of year when coaches have a better understanding of what their team is doing well or not well, and there is still a long time left to make improvements and adjustments.

Here at UCLA, our team spent the week of Thanksgiving this season in Maui at the top tournament in the country.  The competition was great and there is no doubt our team got better because of it, although we did not get all of the results we wanted.  Following the last day of the tournament, we allowed our team a rare day off during the season on Thanksgiving Day in Maui.  Most of the guys spent time at the pool or snorkeling.  Several players’ parents were on the trip and had the chance to spend time with their sons.

In the evening, we had a banquet style Thanksgiving dinner at the hotel with about 200 fans and athletic department representatives that joined us for the trip.  It was great to spend time in such a relaxed environment with many of the people that support our team and our university so much.  Our Chancellor, Gene Block, Athletic Director, Dan Guerrero and Coach Howland all spoke briefly about the appreciation for all of the support of those at the dinner.  They also spoke about how proud they were of the expectations that the student-athletes at UCLA must live up to.  Those situations always serve as a great reminder to me of how much bigger the university and the program is than any individual.  Our duty is to represent our school with the class and integrity that define what makes UCLA a school of such high admiration and respect around the world.

As Finals come to an end this week for our team, we enter into a time of great opportunity during the season.  The month of December will now become a time where we can focus completely on basketball.  School will be out until January, and our team needs to take on every practice and game looking forward to improving.  We play five straight “home” games (all of our games are being played off-campus this season due to the 150 million dollar renovation of Pauley Pavilion) before we begin Pac-12 play at Stanford on December 29^th.  My hope is that our team plays well enough to make the two days that we take off for the Holidays (Dec. 24^th and 25^th) a time to celebrate some more wins.  That is what the Holiday season is all about in College Basketball … while everyone else is looking for gifts to buy, we are looking for the best way to attack a zone, defend a ballscreen, or get our best players more shots.  And, by the way, I leave to go recruiting in a couple of days - three cities in two days … the life of a coach.  Happy Holidays to everyone!

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