The View from Seven Feet

Several months ago I wrote a post titled “My daughters have never won a basketball game”.  In it, I lament the trend in youth sports in which we do not keep score anymore.  Please read it.  This post will make more sense if you do.

My daughter finally got in a league where they keep score.  And I was the coach.  And, we just completed a perfect season.  We had an unblemished record…8 straight losses and not one win.  And she is yet to experience what a win in basketball feels like.  And I am yet to get my first coaching victory.  I will never be mistaken for John Wooden.

But my premise in the prequel to this blog turned out to be correct.  The girls that I coached learned some valuable lessons that they would have never learned any other way than by having a scoreboard.  They got teased at school for losing.  They cried after each close loss.  They got mad after each blowout loss.  They (and their coach) wanted to strangle a few referees.

And they stood up for their teammates and held their heads high at school.  And they put their arms around their teammates after close losses.  And they encouraged each other after blowouts.  They showed self control with referees (more than the coach did anyway!).  And they came to into each practice with an increasing focus and effort as they had a goal to shoot for. 

We lost our last game this year by only one point.  We stole the ball with 3 seconds left, but did not get the winning shot off in time.  As we huddled for the last time as a team, I could look this team of 4th and 5th grade girls in the eye and truly tell them that I was proud of them.  And they really understood what I meant.  Their effort in the last game, desptie being 0-7, was as great as it had been all season long.  They knew that they never gave up, persevered, tried hard, and worked together even when the scoreboard did not go their way.

And they left the gym with their heads held high.