Lesson from the Court

Tonight was senior night. It's a sweet tradition for our last home games when the seniors get called out, along with their parents, to be honored for all of the years they've played. 

The girls came away with a win and so all was good at the honoring. The coach/athletic director/principal always does a great job honoring our kids. It's always clear to me how much he loves them. 

After that the boys' game started. We began the game without two of our starters because they were injured and we lost another one before the half due to an injury.  It was clear to me, and everyone else after the first few minutes, that we were not the better team...even on our best day...with all our players in tact. 

The other team was amazing. And, after the first quarter it was already 28 to 6. Not only were they good, we could not buy a basket. Even good shots were rimming out. By the second quarter their lead had stretched to 30 points. 

Here's the thing. The other coach didn't put subs in until about 2 minutes to go until half. I felt at that point, they had had their fun and were going to show at least a little mercy. The third quarter, however, their starters went back in and played full force. They didn't slow down, they didn't try to stretch things out with passes, they just kept driving. I get that your starters need the practice and should play. I get that they should play their game. However, when you lead by 40 and you still have your starters in, pressing and playing full force, I have a problem. 

To make matters worse, their crowd, coach, and bench (which was extensive by the way) were cheering as if every basket was a victory and they wanted to rub it in our faces. The mercy rule was invoked for the fourth quarter and it was shortened by two minutes. Guess who was still in the game for them? Yep. With less than two minutes left, and a fifty point lead, the subs finally went in.

I'm going to be honest here. I have no respect for a coach who takes pride in beating down his opponent. I don't get it, especially when you have seven players sitting on the bench dying for an opportunity to play. 

I want to say how proud I am of Dawson and his teammates, who never gave up. They played hard every single minute of the game and never gave up the fight. This, after getting home close to midnight after their game last night in which they beat a team that had previously beat them and secured first place in their region. 

I am grateful for our coach, who in the same situation, puts our bench in and lets them play. He tells all of our players to back off just a bit, stop pressing, and pass the ball around. I'm grateful for players, who just last week were just a few baskets shy of reaching 100 and instead of trying to run up the score, they continued to pass to the players who almost never score to let them try. I'm grateful they recognized the talent on the court and didn't let it defeat their spirits....even after the game. 

There are definitely some life lessons to be learned here and in that arena, our kids are definitely the victors. I'm very grateful for that.