As the ball left my hand and careened off the backboard into the hoop, I could hear the crowd jump up and cheer like crazy. There was just one problem — it was the other team’s fans celebrating. I had scored on the wrong basketball hoop.
My fourth grade basketball team could easily have been referred to as the lovable losers, and I was the biggest loser of them all. I would show up to every game with my upside-down Nike sweatband covering my forehead, socks hiked up above my calves, my $15 Starburys laced over them and to top it all off, the chick magnet Rec Specs goggles masking my eyes.
If our looks were not enough to make the opposition relinquish all worries about losing, our incredible ability to air ball almost every layup during warm-ups gave the other teams absolute confidence going into games against us. Our team was overmatched in every sense of the word. During the course of the entire season, which lasted from October through March, our team managed to win only two games.
In the last place game of a tournament in Rochester we finally tasted victory. We were matched against a team from Zimmerman, Minn. The game went to sudden death overtime when senior DJ Pollard made a clutch shot to win the game. We went crazy and celebrated on the court until the officials had to kick us off. We may not have left with a trophy, but that win was more memorable than any championship.
That season, the numbers on the scoreboard didn’t define our happiness. Instead of exiting every game with tears in our eyes about the shot we missed, we’d leave the court with goofy grins on our faces from the one shot that went in. Even scoring on the wrong hoop was cause for celebration because a layup was actually made.
When an individual no longer cares about winning or losing, they can actually enjoy the sport and appreciate it for what it really is — a game. This is something many high school athletes, including myself, often forget in the heat of competition. Instead of playing for the love of the game, many athletes now play for the love of the fame.
I challenge all athletes and students to go into their next competition with a new mindset of trying to appreciate the competition instead of worrying about the results. People will enjoy the game they played as a child all over again, and possibly with a better attitude, compete better too.
Sometimes the biggest loser stepping out onto the court is the biggest winner coming off of it.
What’s the point?
-Enjoy playing sports, instead of enjoying winning
-As kids, we play sports for fun
-Varsity athletes can still enjoy participating in their sports
