After a good season ends in defeat, an Anchorage coach considers the meaning of success

Editor's note: The East T-birds finished second at last year's Class 4A state volleyball tournament but didn't make it to this year's tournament. They were the third-seeded team at the Cook Inlet Conference tournament but lost to sixth-seeded Bartlett in a Saturday match that determined which team would advance to state. After the loss, long-time East coach Jim Dooley reflected about the season, and the meaning of success, in a Facebook post. We are reprinting it with his permission.

Coaching is a labor of love. We certainly don't do it for the money.

We have some special athletes on the East volleyball team this year. The girls are smart and involved in student government, drama, cheerleading, softball, basketball, math camp, Poly Club, senior class activities, SWS and many other programs. Five seniors are leaving our team this year and all plan on going to college and two want to continue to play volleyball at the collegiate level.

That's success.

I know I'm hard-ass coach, as many of my current and former players can attest to. I'm sometimes a little rough around the edges, I'm too loud, too straight forward and I've made many mistakes in strategy, player relationships and how I've handled different situations.

Just so you know, I didn't kick a volleyball in practice out of anger and have my shoe fall off this year. I have mellowed in the recent years but there are still some core beliefs that I hold true.

Many of these things are taught in volleyball and all sports, and hopefully hold true in life:

Listen with both your eyes and ears.

Be on time.

Be a good teammate.

Positive self talk.

Be selfless.

Bring a good attitude to practice and games.

Be honest.

Do these things, and that's success.

I hope some of the life lessons that have occurred over the course of the year will stick with the members of my team. I've seen changes in some of the players already and I see it now with some of the young women I've coached in the past.

We live in a different era now compared to when I started coaching at East in 1993. Some of the early players like Jamie Lyle, Kamilah Webb, Iman Josey, Aziza Hill, Nikita Comstock, Karen Kusano, Renee Sands, Lennon Sheedy, Anne Griffiths, Nova Alston, Crystal Wheelock, Hannah Thompson, Emily Boyd, Leah Pili, Jackie Brown, Cassandra Raun, Dorie Thomas, Jackie Mathisen and Megan Byers as well as many others are all leading great lives and raising families and contributing in their communities.

That's success.

At our meeting after our loss, we talked about how it hurts to lose but in reality it's just a game. On Saturday we played a team with nothing to lose and they were hungry. On Saturday they were a better team. At the end of the year only one team in each division goes home a winner, every other team in our state and the country goes home with a loss.

Volleyball-wise, I've thought all year we were one of the most athletic teams in the state, and we are. Putting volleyball aside, I think some of the most important ideas I've tried to get across to my team are these:

How will your teammates remember you? Were you a good teammate? Will you be a friend for life?

I am reminded of something I read about long-time Purdue basketball coach Piggy Lambert, whose players included the great John Wooden. At the end of one of his seasons, Lambert was asked by a reporter to assess the job he had done. Here is Lambert's response:

"Success is defined and measured by the content of their character, their leadership, and their contribution to the betterment of their families, their communities, and the world. The challenge presented with this definition is the amount of time it takes to determine success. I give myself a 20-year window. I will assess the quality of the lives of the men I helped produce 20 years later to determine if I fulfilled my WHY as their coach. When my players come back and are committed husbands, partners, and friends, devoted fathers, empathic men of integrity, contributors and leaders on all levels in various communities — then I will know. People often ask what kind of success my team will have this season. I tell them I will let them know in 20 years."

Twenty years.

That's success.

Jim Dooley is a 1974 West High graduate. He began coaching volleyball at East High in 1993.