To forgive and learn...

I have had some touching experiences lately on the hardwood. On the weekend, I showed up to a game five minutes late. I am dealing with a first half schedule that is based upon my proximity to my old address since I have now moved to the west side of Portland. When I arrived they had not began the game, how could they, I was working solo. But before the jump ball, I apologized to all of the players standing on the floor waiting to get started. Now these boys were all of eight to ten years old, if that. Some of them said, “It’s okay” but one boy spoke for both teams.

“It’s alright mister, we forgive you.”

I had to catch my breath, he completely astounded me and all of the boys nodded in unison after he had said it. It was the most touching moment I have had on the basketball court and we weren’t even playing the game yet.

So I said, “Thanks guys! Now who’s ready to play some ball?!”

They all cheered and we got it started right then and there. I really felt bad that I had shown up so late, five minutes isn’t a lot, but for me it is completely out of character and I just didn’t want to disappoint those young boys. It’s funny sometimes how kids can just touch your heart without even realizing it. They inspire me sometimes with the way they play their hearts out, with the way they listen to me when I make a call and explain what the right thing is to do.

An example of this is a kid who dribbled with two hands on the ball. After letting it go a couple times, I called it and immediately explained to the boy what to do so that it wouldn’t be called again. That boy promptly learned to dribble with one hand, and in so doing, he started driving to the basket and scoring about four in a row for his team. That is inspiring to see for me.

So let this be a lesson for us all, don’t show up late and make sure to talk to the kids, especially the young ones because they are always willing to listen and forgive. Until next time…

Dave