One would think a coach would have a semi decent relationship with their players; however that was not the case with Coach Mel Thompson and the Citadel basketball team. Throughout the memoir, My Losing Season by Pat Conroy, it is evident Mel gave everyone on the team, including Pat a difficult time. Mel’s behavior towards the team helped Pat improve himself not only as an athlete, but as a person and writer. “If Pat scores one or two points a game and runs the team well, we can’t ask any more from him this year”, is not something a supportive coach would say about one of their players. Mel Thompson is not exactly the supportive coach on this team. Mel was hard on the team, especially on Pat. He did not think that Pat would ever have what it took to be a great point guard so, Mel would repeatedly out him down. After hearing what Mel had said about him, Part tried even harder to prove that he could do more than what was expected. He did this by continuously scoring in the double digits. Pat did so well that he was not included in the harsh lecture that Mel gave after a game. …show more content…
Mel Thompson was a man that barely knew what feelings were and he coached his team without caring about their feelings. This often made Pat emotional because he would let all the harsh things that Mel said get to him. He finally got fed up with letting Mel trample over his emotions and said to himself, “I would never listen to a single thing that Mel Thompson said to me again. I would obey him and honor him and follow him, but I would not let him touch the core of me again. He was my coach, but I was my master.” After being emotionally hurt by his father and then by his coach, Pat made a decision to not let someone affect his feelings and it is a decision that will surely strengthen him for years