Calling Off the Dogs

My 6th grade girls basketball team had a game last night and believe it or not, they won. Granted, it was against the only team that we have beaten in the past, but it was still a win.

We are in what is called a competitive league, which is different than a recreation league. A competitive league is one in which the goal is to try to win, as well as develop the talent so the players can move up to the next level.

I take my job as coach seriously and part of my job is to develop the mentality of the player as well as the physical skills. Part of the mental aspect is winning gracefully. We have lots of experience in losing, so we kind of have the lesson on how to lose down pat.

At halftime, my ladies had a commanding lead over the competition, so I had the squad that had done the majority of the scoring on the bench for almost the entire third quarter. They were all wanting to go back in to play, but I told them that I did not want to run the score up on the other team. The obvious question came back, "Why?" I explained that it was the right thing to do. Most of the girls in this competitive league are still trying to figure out whether they like the sport of basketball. Losing by lots of points all the time can be a bit demoralizing. If you continually lose by droves of points all the time, you are not going to want to play any more. So, I called off the dogs to make sure that we did not demoralize the other team.

My ladies don't win too often, but I want to make sure that when they do win, that they do so with grace. Last night they did. Cudos to the ladies.

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