Last night was the first scrimmage for the 5th grade basketball team. They played against Immaculate Conception. They are literally in a different league than we are but the teams get together once or twice a season for “practice.” The private Catholic school has four coaches, has been practicing twice a week and scrimmaging once a week since November. Entire families of their team members showed up to cheer them on and the score was diligently kept. Our public elementary school has three coaches, has met once a week since December and last night was our first scrimmage, with the normal amount of parents that show up for a practice attending.
We lost but not because we were ill prepared. The boys played well and they learned their weak spots. Maybe we lost because the other team was better but some suspect it was because the head coach (my husband) decided to play everyone equally. There were opportunities to play our strength and we could have scored much more than we did but the Professor lives by his principles and he thinks that the goal is to teach these 5th grade boys how to play, not just win.
I once explained this philosophy to an Olympic skier who was lying next to me getting her knee ultra-sounded as I was icing mine at a physical therapy clinic in Park City, Utah. She looked at me and said, “In sports, it’s all about winning.”
I have been mulling that over for a very long time and I am not sure if I had to pick a lifeboat to jump in which one I’d choose. I grew up with a Bad News Bear father and Catholic-school girl mother so I always see both sides to everything. For now I guess I’ll just sit on the sidelines and be thankful the only thing being sunk are baskets.
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