Announcement
"To love what you do and feel that it matters--how could anything be more fun?" - Katharine Graham
Time to Take a Break (March 2012)
For over three decades Clear Lake Boys’ basketball has been a passion in my life. So much so that I have not missed a Clear Lake Varsity game in over 22 years and I have only missed 3 home games in 28 years. I have thoroughly enjoyed the time I have spent watching the Falcons endeavor to carry on the tradition of Clear Lake boys’ basketball.< My devotion to Lake boys basketball has been almost a year round activity which has consumed more time than I would like to admit. Since 2001 my efforts have included:
providing the clearlakefalconhoops.com website;
<< providing program handouts for all home and playoff games as well as the program for the annual banquet;
<coaching both the Varsity and JV boys teams in summer league basketball;
<< serving as the 2010 Summer League coordinator;
<coaching the Varsity in fall shootouts ;
organizing, facilitating and coaching the teams in four weekend, mostly out-of-town overnight camps (since 2004);
facilitating the annual clearlakefalconhoops.com 3 on 3 Tournament fundraiser (2010, 2011, 2013, 2014);
serving as the unofficial photographer to provide team photos of all the teams, individual roster photos posted in the Main Building, Senior Night photos, and Banquet photos as well as game photos for some games; and
serving as an advisor to the Booster Club (since 2009).
In addition my financial donations to the boys’ basketball program have provided:
a. ½ of the large photo of the 1989 state championship team hanging in Krueger Field House (Leo Sarabia also contributed),
b. Donations in support of the CCISD District’s annual tournament,
c. Inscription of the trophies in the trophy case in some years,
d. Donation of the annual Hall of Fame trophy (one year),
e. Donations to the Booster Club,
f. Scholarships to attend the summer Falconhoops Team camps for prospective varsity and JV players for boys needing financial assistance to attend the out-of-town camps I conducted. This has been by far my largest financial contribution.
My zeal for supporting these activities has certainly diminished over the last five years. Until five years ago I wrote a substantial website article describing every Lake varsity game. This season I wrote only two brief articles. In addition, this season I discontinued the very popular detailed player and game stats since they were largely a duplication of stats provided by the coaching staff to maxpreps.com.
The number of hours I spent providing the home game programs for each home game increased this season from 1 ½ hours per home game program to around 4 hours per home game (due to the addition of advertising to the program). Until last season (2010-11) I spent 30 to 50 hours per week on the website alone. This season I tried to limit time spent on websites activities to around 25 hours per week (due mainly to not providing the game write-ups and detailed stats).
Although I have enjoyed much of the time spent on Clear Lake basketball endeavors, I cannot say overall it has been a rewarding experience. My devotion to Clear Lake Boys’ basketball motivated me, not what I derived from the experience. For me this has been a labor of love.
Over the years I have received comments from my basketball friends ranging from admiration to telling me that only a fool would spend as much time as I do on such an endeavor. There have been times when I realized the truth in that statement although as hobbies go, it has been a perfect hobby. The many rewards I have realized include:
Getting to work with young people (both a plus and a minus at times);
Meeting a new set of adults (parents) with a common interest every year and continuing that relationship for two to four years and sometimes longer;
Developing a close working relationship with the school's coaching staff;
The learning experience that comes from building a unique website and using photo and video editing software;
The enjoyment and excitement of watching the game of high school boys’ basketball which I truly love.
For a number of reasons it is now time for me to step back and reduce my involvement in Clear Lake Boys’ basketball. Starting with the summer activities I will reduce the number of camps I take the boys to from four to two or three.
Starting with the 2012-13 season I will no longer provide the home game programs or the Banquet program and I will limit the website contents to:
Season Schedules for each team,
Timely reporting of varsity game scores,
Directions to schools, and
Posting of photos contributed by others.
This does not mean that I do not recognize the value of the home game programs or the website. I think they are among many things that set Clear Lake Boys Basketball above most other schools. My hope is that someone will step up and provide much better programs than those I provided and the website will continue to be an aid to the players' relatives and fans.
Rather than stop my support of the basketball program altogether which I feel might happen if I get burned out (which feels eminent), scaling back will hopefully allow me to recharge my batteries and continue my support of the program a while longer.
Don Wilkerson
