Basketball... With a Side of Humility

Here in the South, basketball is normally played as "Church League" basketball.  There is a church every half mile here it seems, and they love to play basketball.  The leagues have previously consisted of teams named after the church they represent, and they play each other.  This year though, things changed.   Upward Sports is a christian sports organization that has a fantastic program, and the local churches decided to have an Upward Sports basketball league, and spread the kids out evenly amongst the teams by skill level rather than by what church they belonged to.  I'm extremely impressed with the way Upward operates.  They have scripture study at the halfway point of practice and during halftime of each game, they pray at every practice and before each game, and they teach good christian values to the kids.  No cut-throat cheating by the coaches, no parents screaming at the referees.  I like it.

Having said that, I've been extremely apprehensive about basketball this year... Justice is a great basketball player, and Joe decided to place him at the next higher age group to challenge him.  Typically, Justice flies up and down the court scoring between 20 and 25 points a game, no sweat on his brow and his Superman cape flapping behind him as he easily scores basket after basket.  Joe knew that playing him up to the next level would mean he would have to work harder.  Personally, I'm totally cool with the Superman cape and 25 points scenario followed by a "Justice is the MVP" pizza party.  But, Dad is the coach, and I knew Dad/Coach was right in this case.  And Justice didn't come alone to this next higher age group, he brought his friend Tristan from football up with him.  Tristan is an awesome basketball player, and also suffers from Superman Cape Syndrome.

The season started with a fun "Opening Ceremonies" program at a local church.  They had a smoke machine, spotlights, balloons, and the kids got called out by name one by one and got to run through a tunnel onto the court.  There was music, loud applause, the whole nine yards.  It was very cool and the kids loved it.  It was just like a pre-game show for an NBA Championship Game.  I couldn't get any good pictures of it because it was dark and smokey, but here is a pic of Justice, Joe and Jack after the ceremonies were over:

Before I jump into the game, I want to talk a little bit about his coach, his Dad.  Joe is an amazing man.  He is an amazing husband, father, and an equally amazing coach.  He has coached every sporting team Justice has ever been on (except when he was in Norfolk), and every single team he's coached has been either undefeated or very close.  Joe is just a great coach.  I will never forget when Justice signed up for soccer, and asked his Dad "You're gonna be my coach, right?"  Joe blinked a few times, and said "of course". I was like "Whaaaattttt?  You don't know ANYTHING about soccer!!!"  He shrugged his shoulders and said nonchalantly "I'll figure it out, it's just a game".  And they were undefeated that season, and Joe trots off the field with HIS Superman cape flapping behind him.  That whole new-age "It's not about winning or losing, it's about having fun" is lost on him.  He tells the parents of his team "There is nothing fun about losing.". And truthfully, the kids are happier when they win, and when they want to win rather than just "have fun", they try harder and put more effort into it.  I'm onboard with that philosophy.  But based on Joe's coaching record, I would say he suffers from Superman Cape Syndrome, too.

The wheels have been in motion for great changes in Joe's life over the past year.  Very shortly after joining the church, he was called to be the President of Young Men.  HUGE CALLING for the new guy.  And for the first time ever, I saw him struggle, and even falter a step or two.  That struggle caught him off guard.  No matter how hard he worked, he was having a difficult time falling into place and understanding his new role.  It was so hard for me to sit on the outside and see what he was going through, because I knew exactly what Heavenly Father's purpose was for him in this calling.  Joe needed to learn a new and different way of leading and teaching than what he was used to.  Of course Heavenly Father knew he could do it, otherwise he wouldn't have called him to the job.  And I knew he could do it, if he opened his heart to understand what Heavenly Father was trying to do for him.   I think the realization hit him when he was given the Upward Sports rule book.  When he read there would be no typical Joe-style coaching, and he would be giving scripture study at halftime in the locker room, it finally hit him that Heavenly Father wasn't going to quit until he figured this out.  

The final score of last nights game was 30-14.  The game was an absolute tragedy by Joe's coaching standards, and holy cow was he in a foul mood after the game.  But he did something that really surprised me.  He shook it off.  And when Justice was being extremely hard on himself and crying his little eyes out about the game, his Dad pulled him into his arms, and said "Buddy you did a great job tonight, I'm so proud of you".  And I'm so proud of Joe for accepting the lessons that this basketball season and his new calling have to offer him, and for the man, father, and husband that he is.

I will end with a bunch of pictures about the game, but before I do that...

Of those 14 points our team earned, 10 were scored by the little fourth grader named Justice.  And he worked his little skinny butt off for those points, and I have never been prouder of him.  He and his Dad are going to make a great team this season, even without their Superman Capes.  

Pre-game prayer

Dribbling up court

Getting a little pep talk from the coach

Running for the layup

Getting ready to take the shot

Do you see how tall the other kid is??

Closeup... is that sweat on his brow?