Another Positive Story from the World of Sports

I read about this story on Monday. I wanted to share it with you. It comes from ESPN.com and I think that it pretty much speaks for itself. I'll only add that this is one reason why I enjoy sports and what they can bring to people involved:

Two missed free throws, ordinarily the cause of a coach's headache, became the symbol of sportsmanship in a Milwaukee boys' basketball game earlier this month.
Milwaukee Madison senior Johntell Franklin, who lost his mother, Carlitha, to cancer on Saturday, Feb. 7, decided he wanted to play in that night's game against DeKalb (Ill.) High School after previously indicating he would sit out.

He arrived at the gym in the second quarter, but Franklin's name was not in the scorebook because his coach, Aaron Womack Jr., didn't expect him to be there.
Rules dictated Womack would have to be assessed a technical, but he was prepared to put Franklin in the game anyway. DeKalb coach Dave Rohlman and his players knew of the situation, and told the referees they did not want the call.

The referees had no choice. But Rohlman did.

"I gathered my kids and said, 'Who wants to take these free throws?'" Rohlman said, recounting the game to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "Darius McNeal put up his hand. I said, 'You realize you're going to miss, right?' He nodded his head."

McNeal, a senior point guard, went to the line. The Milwaukee Madison players stayed by their bench, waiting for the free throws. Instead of seeing the ball go through the net, they saw the ball on the court, rolling over the end line.

"I turned around and saw the ref pick up the ball and hand it back to the player," Womack said in the Journal Sentinel. "And then [McNeal] did the same thing again."

Said Rohlman: "Darius set up for a regular free throw, but he only shot it two or three feet in front of him. It bounced once or twice and just rolled past the basket."

"I did it for the guy who lost his mom," McNeal told the newspaper. "It was the right thing to do."

Womack, overwhelmed by DeKalb's gesture, wrote a letter to the DeKalb Daily Chronicle, which had first reported the story.

"As a principal, school, school district staff, and community you should all feel immense pride for the remarkable job that the coaching staff is doing in not only coaching these young men, but teaching them how to be leaders," Womack wrote.

DeKalb had traveled more than two hours for the game, and waited another two as Womack rushed from the hospital, where he had been with Franklin, to the school to gather his team.
"We were sympathetic to the circumstances and the events," Rohlman said in the Journal Sentinel. "We even told Coach Womack that it'd be OK to call off the game, but he said we had driven 2½ hours to get here and the kids wanted to play. So we said, 'Spend some time with your team and come out when you're ready.'"

The two schools had met twice previously, and this one ended with a Madison victory, but as in the other games, they also shared a pizza dinner, "four kids to a pizza, two Madison kids and two DeKalb kids," Womack told the Journal Sentinel.

"That letter became a big deal in DeKalb," Rohlman said in the paper. "We got lots of positive calls and e-mails because of it. Even though we lost the game, it was a true life lesson, and it's not one our kids are going to forget anytime soon."

Womack, in his letter to the DeKalb Daily Chronicle, added this at the end: "I'd like to recognize Darius who stepped up to miss the shot on purpose. He could have been selfish and cared only for his own stats [I hope Coach Rohlman doesn't make him run for missing the free throws]."

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.