Thursday, January 29, 2009

Honor, Respect, Competition and Girls' High School Basketball

I thought I'd weigh in on this even though it's been a couple of weeks (blame it on schoolwork). Most people know of the high school girls' basketball game that took place in Dallas that saw the Covenant School of Dallas defeat Dallas Academy by the score of 100-0.

The school later issued this statement: "It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition." It was signed by head of the school and the head of the school board. The coach of the team, disagreed with the statement saying the following: "In response to the statement posted on The Covenant School Web site, I do not agree with the apology or the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel embarrassed or ashamed. We played the game as it was meant to be played. My values and my beliefs would not allow me to run up the score on any opponent, and it will not allow me to apologize for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity." The coach was subsequently fired for his remarks.

Here's my thoughts...I do not agree with the coach in issuing a statement like that after the school had issued theirs. As an employee of the school, he is under their authority and in this case should have submitted to them.

I do, however, agree with the sentiment of his statement. If both teams were playing with all that they had, then you can't fault either school. We are called as followers to honor Christ with what we do and to do our best. The girls from Covenant shouldn't be made to feel like they weren't being Christlike by doing their best. The same goes from the girls at Dallas Academy.

This is a rare occurance in sports but as a coach or a leader, you want to encourage those you are leading to do their best but in such a manner that is encouraging and uplifting to others. When that happens, it helps to point people to Jesus which is the ultimate goal.

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