Life Lessons from the 100 Point Basketball Game

I just had to make a quick comment on the girls basketball game between the Covenant School and Dallas Academy which ended with a score of 100-0, and ultimately, the coach of the winning team being fired. My girls play on various sports teams and it has almost always been a fun, worthwhile, character-building experience for my girls. I have mixed feelings about the outcome of the blowout game in Texas. You have to admire the girls on the team that lost; they didn't quit and seem to have taken the loss in stride. They are learning the game and learning lessons about persevering, grace, and sportsmanship while they are learning to play the game. The Covenant School team is also learning some things. While I am sure it felt good, for a moment, to have scored 100 points, I have to believe that at least a couple of girls on the team had some feelings of mercy toward the other team and felt the need to maybe pull back a little. The coach of the team could have slowed things down; he had to have realized the skills of the two teams were mismatched. It would have been a good time for the girls on the Covenant team to get a lesson in good sportsmanship and gracious winning. The lesson for the Covenant girls appears to have been "crush your opponent" and "it doesn't matter what the score is". I'm not sure the huge, lopsided score and the unapologetic coach warranted his being fired (maybe there are other reasons). I'm not sure the win required an apology or a forfeit of the game. An attitude adjustment of the coach and team members is what needed to be done. Parents and educators are always told to be looking out for "teachable moments" in kids lives. This would have been a great opportunity to teach mercy, grace, patience, and kindness.