Sponsored by Erik M. Kupka, Attorney for Ingram, Zelasko & Goodwin, LLP.
This year marks Larry Moore’s 31st year coaching high school boys basketball. This long and respected career began when he was a senior in high school, unsure of what he should do with his future. Larry’s high school basketball coach, Dick Dickson, a North Beach High School graduate, told him he thought he would make a good coach.
Larry had demonstrated his skill for reading the defense and seeing the floor as the point guard for his team. Larry’s talents were clear to Coach Dickson. Encouraging Larry to pursue a career in coaching and teaching, Larry says Dickson’s influence extended beyond the court. “My coach gave me all the encouragement I needed to take that step,” Larry shares.
In his more than 30 years of coaching, however, this is Larry’s first year coaching high school girls basketball. He decided to coach both the girls and boys teams this year, partly influenced by the fact that his 16-year-old daughter, Reilly Moore, plays on the girls team as a starting point guard.
Thanks to his daughter and his longstanding relationship with the school, Larry already knew most of the girls on the team and believed they deserved better leadership on the court. “I thought I could do a pretty good job,” Larry says. “Better than most.”
For Larry, providing athletes with a top-notch basketball program and helping kids feel good about themselves through sports is what he enjoys most about his job, which is why it was so important to him to step up to the plate and start coaching the girls team. Larry says girls sports often get cheated since not as much emphasis is placed on them, compared to boys sports. Larry sees no reason for this difference.
As an experienced coach, now with both a boys and girls team under his guidance, Larry has had the opportunity to observe different dynamics between the boys and girls teams, noting what makes them each unique. What has stood out most to Larry, he says, is that girls tend to make better listeners than boys do. They also show a greater willingness to learn, often picking up new skills quicker than the boys. Boys, on the other hand, are generally built taller and stronger than girls, giving them a physical upper hand. “Other than that, I don’t think there’s that much difference really,” he muses. And as for the work ethic? He says that’s the same on both sides.
Being able to coach his own daughter is a treat for Larry, but Reilly isn’t the first of his children he’s had the chance to coach. He also coached his son Derek when he played in high school. Larry says he sees a lot of similarities between the two, although his basketball bond was a bit stronger with Derek. From the time Derek was in sixth grade until he graduated, father and son would go to the gym at 5:30 a.m. every morning to work on basketball. But he says both Derek and Reilly are equally competitive, and he acknowledges that parents are always harder on their kids than anyone else. Larry claims he is no exception to the rule.
The biggest challenge Larry has faced this season is finding opportunities in his busy schedule to spend quality time with his wife. Most days, he leaves his house at 6:30 a.m. and gets home at 8:30 p.m. While family time is limited off the court, he loves to coach, so that part of his day doesn’t wear on him too hard.
Game days can be a little crazy, he admits, due to the back-to-back lineup of varsity girls games and varsity boys games. Because the girls play first, there is adequate time for a pre-game talk to prepare them, but boys often get cut short, Larry says, because they start warming up almost immediately after the girls leave the court. Luckily, Larry isn’t a big fan of talking too much after a game. He believes athletes need down time.
Despite the challenges that come with coaching two teams, Larry’s leadership is unwavering, and it’s clear that his happy place is on the court, coaching the Hyaks.
