Brandon Welsch, a career counselor at Muscatine High School talks about his successful basketball career. Brandon played basketball from the time he was able to throw socks in the hamper, served as our head coach for 8 years, and the assistant coach for 3 years.
Although Welsch isn’t currently active with basketball, his success is still being recognized.
“My team won a National Title at Kirkwood my sophomore year. We recently got inducted in the Kirkwood Hall of Fame, so I was able to see a lot of those teammates previously. But we had a lot of success and a lot of good moments with a lot of different levels and different places,” said Welsch.
Basketball has always been involved in Welsch’s life. His mother, Corrine Welsch, played basketball which inspired Brandon’s love for the sport. He talks about how he was a very competitive kid growing up, but basketball was the sport he seemed to gravitate toward the most. Currently Welsch doesn’t coach nor play, but he helps with his children’s youth teams. His children, Canton, 16 years old, Parker, 12 years old, and Marely “Buckets,” as they call her, 5 years old, are all involved with basketball, having the legacy carried on.
“All of my kids seem to have an interest, but I honestly don’t care what they do. I really don’t push them to do much unless they ask me for help, I just want them to find something that they have a passion for and and can set a goal and work for it and I really don’t care if that’s in basketball or something else, whatever they want,” said Welsch.
Setting goals and doing everything in your power to achieve those goals is something Welsch is passionate about. Currently at MHS he helps students figure out life outside of highschool. He has a very strong mindset and knows how to push students to their best ability. This specific mindset has been heavily influenced by basketball. Welsch understands that with being a student athlete there is time taken away from the classroom, with more focus on the court, but students need to find a way to balance the focus because both are important.
Welsch said, “If you’re an athlete that’s succeeding you’re probably spending a lot more time than the average student does on other things. For me it was easier almost to balance while I was in the sport then when I was outside of the sport, because when you were in the sport you had to utilize time management skills like set deadlines because if you didn’t get things done and then you were away on a basketball road trip or whatever then you’re never going to get it done. So I was actually more organized and probably got things done even earlier when I was in the sport than if I was out of season and had a little more time to procrastinate.”
Being active on the court and directing on the sidelines are two perspectives that Brandon was able to experience. Being coached and doing the coaching are two completely different mindsets. As the athlete you have to honor your skills and push yourself to your own limits, as the coach you have to see the game plan and be the inspiration for your players.
“As a coach you have way less control over the outcome, which is actually, for me, was almost tougher because you can work with someone and tell them what to do but ultimately you have no control over. So for me it was like less nerve wracking to play and less thought that went into actually playing then the coaching aspect of it. As a coach you need to think about every player on the team, how different players need to be in different places on the floor at all times, but not only their team chemistry, but individual attitudes and individual motivations, all the way down to like youth programs. So you definitely think in a way bigger picture,” stated Welsch.
Brandons talks about how he originally wanted to coach college basketball, but this specific lifestyle did not fit with his family. Brandon has always had the passion to help others and make people grow as individuals. But you will only reach success if you give yourself the opportunity to achieve that success.
“If you give it your best effort and enjoy the journey, the process of working hard towards a goal, being a good teammate, finding out some other things about yourself through that sport, even if things don’t go your way, if you like the sport and continue to give effort and enjoy it, because a lot of people don’t get that opportunity to do those things after high school’s over. So just enjoy your journey,” advised Brandon Welsch.
