In an attempt to make us all feel like his $500 salary isn't a complete waste of good money, the mayor of our little town writes an article in the monthly newsletter that gets stuffed in with your water bill. This month's article was about his kid playing Junior Jazz basketball.
It seems there's a little kid in town that's quite a bit more little than the average kid should be. In fact, he's so little that they usually won't let him play on the basketball team with kids his own age. He's in the fourth grade and he's about half the size of the other kids.
Well, for some reason, this year he did play basketball with the other fourth grade kids, including the mayor's son. And he didn't do so well. He never got to shoot. He never got to dribble. He never got the ball. Except one time when he got accidentally hit in the face.
The other kids on the team felt bad for him. They tried to give him a chance, he just wasn't very good. After a while, the kids on the opposite team felt bad for him too, so they basically moved out of the way and let him shoot until he made a few baskets.
The game ended and everyone was so proud. There were "high fives" all around. The little kid's parents had tears in their eyes. The coach congratulated the team on their "good sportsmanship". And the mayor thought that our town's Junior Jazz program must be the best Junior Jazz program in the whole world.
Except that it's all a bunch of baloney.
Good sportsmanship is about playing fair and following the rules and doing your best. It isn't about pretending that a really short kid is a good basketball player.
I played sports when I was a kid. And I wasn't any good. And we lost a lot of games. But sometimes we won. And I learned that it feels better to win.
It doesn't feel like anything when someone hands you a trophy and says, "Here, you won this just for showing up."
Don't get me wrong, I think it was nice that the team let the little kid make a few baskets. Just like I think it would be nice if they let me take a few laps at the Daytona 500 in my Monza. It just wouldn't mean that I'm ready to be a NASCAR driver.
If you're playing a game just for fun, then let everyone have a turn and don't keep score. If you're playing a game to see who is the best, you have to do your best. Sometimes that means the little kids have to play down a grade or two.
Maybe nine years old is too little for competition. Maybe I'm still bitter because I broke my hand playing softball when I was eleven and had to spend half the summer with a cast on my arm. Or maybe we worry too much about self-esteem and not enough about accomplishment.
What do you think?
That is very nice of those children.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that there are times when you play something for fun and times when you play something to win, I mean, to see who is best.
I played softball the summer I was 11, just after getting a cast off my arm, and it ruined all competitive team sports for me... maybe we are from the same family after all.
My rec center has a track on the second floor. While jogging around it, you can look down at the basketball courts. I often watch the Jr Jazz games. I love basketball. I played and coached basketball. Most of those Jr Jazz games are not basketball games. They don't follow the rules. They don't play as a team. What makes it even worse, those kids are learning really bad basketball habits.
ReplyDeleteMy feeling is, if they aren't going to play "real" basketball games, then play some basketball related games that really short kids can do. The kids can have fun, they learn some basketball skills, and no one feels bad.
When they're eleven, maybe ten, they can play real basketball.
I was never prouder of you then at a couple softball games when I was about 14. Our ward hadn't had a team for a year or two, so the other teams hadn't seen you play for a while. They would say when you went up to bat, "It's Tony, move in," then you'd crank it over their heads.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it only lasted a couple games. They started moving back when you got up, and you flied out a billion times in a row. That's probably why we didn't take region.
;) (I think that's the sign you're suppose to give when you're giving someone a hard time. If not, then just know that I'm joking.)