One of my callings is to referee men's and women's sports for our stake. I have been doing this for over three years and currently it is basketball season. The games are on Saturday mornings and it is a bit of a sacrifice to get up early in the cold to referee. I do mostly young women's games during basketball season and have on several occasions been upset by the sportsmanship of some of these young ladies.
A couple of weeks ago I had an amazing experience that made me glad I had given up my Saturday morning. It began with a game where the teams were pretty evenly matched. The only difference was that one team had girls that were beehives(only 12) and little 12 years old at that. Both teams played fair and actually corrected me on calls that I did not have the best angle to call. As games progress normally the intensity and tempers of the players do too. In this game I was shocked to see that the opposite happened. The intensity increased, but the girls actually began cheering for each other more. It didn't matter whose team they were from. My favorite memories were when the little beehives were put in during the 2nd and 3rd quarter. Without being told or even communicating with each other, several laurels(16 year olds) from the opposing team took two steps back from them. They began encouraging these little beehives to shoot. Each of the beehives scored at least one basket to the cheers of everyone, especially those tall girls guarding them. One team began activating some impressive plays. After one play a girl from the other team yelled out, 'That was soo cool." I think the impression that will always stick with me was that of one of the little beehives clapping her hands after the opposing team made a basket. She did it instinctively. It was because of the example of the other young women.
As I said earlier I have been doing this for awhile and this has never happened before. I am not big on crying, but found myself with tears in my eyes and a whistle in my mouth. When the game ended I felt prompted to call all the girls in a tell them what I had observed. I don't think they had any idea how much they had impressed me. They were simply being themselves. The spirit was so strong when I related these observations to them. Most of us were crying and this was a basketball game. I am so proud to have nice girls in my stake. Their example can change the world. I pray that I can remember their example and learn to cheer for others rather than focus on winning.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
NICE GIRLS
Posted by Crystal at 8:22 AM
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10 comments:
That is so impressive! And I bet they had so much more fun than the catty girls.
What a wonderful post. I am glad you shared your thoughts with the girls after the game. That is something they will never forget.
What an awesome story! That speaks volumes about those girls. This experience was a blessing for serving in your calling.
All I can say is...that's very different than Curt's basketball game I saw a few weeks ago. :) What a cool experience for you.
Wow. That does not happen very often in basketball. What a great example those young women were. It's a good lesson for me - I tend to get carried away in competition. Thanks for sharing it with us!
Very cool. And that is very different than what I have been observing in our YW basketball season. I would like it much better if it was like this game with these YW!
I experienced something very similar to that while we lived in St. Louis, we'll compare notes the next time we're together. Girls rock!
Hum...
Still waiting for this experience in Men's church bball.
Although there was one guy on the other team last night that helped apply gauze, bandaids, and ice to the face of our teammate he "accidentally" hit with his elbow. It really helped stem the bleeding and I thought that was a nice gesture.
That is really cool, good for you. :) I sure wish that they had basketball in my stake, that would be fun! I could actually play now that high school basketball is over
I am so grateful you shared this experience. It made me cry. We receive unexpected blessings in serving others. Thank you.
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