聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 鈥淎 leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.鈥� ~ John C. Maxwell
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 This past weekend I was in Regina with the Vipers 15U team. They continually impress me and are so good to each other; they honestly embody what it means to be a team.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 On the first day of the tournament the girls had a bit of a tough time bringing things together, but they played hard. We took many of the girls based on their abilities, but we also took them based on their character and despite us preaching being good, honest, and having integrity they already had these qualities.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Last weekend one of the girls, the one we made captain actually, impressed me even more. She鈥檚 not only a smart and skilled player, but she embodies the upstanding character player we wanted on the team, as all the girls are, but this is a specific example of one.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The other team had 24 points and hit the ball to our side, the girls went up to block and the ball passed by them going out. She turned to the ref and let him know she had touched the ball. The match went to the other side.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But, had she not said anything it would have been cheating. She had touched the ball and that meant it was the other team鈥檚 point. Some of the people watching from other teams looked surprised that a player wouldn鈥檛 hide the fact they had touched the ball. The ref missed it, so why not take the point?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In my opinion she did the right thing, she played her heart out and did an extremely good job, but not only did she play her hardest, she played with integrity and honesty on a point which may not have been easy for most to uphold.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 There are other philosophies out there, where if the ref didn鈥檛 see the touch you keep quiet. These are the people that when you鈥檙e watching in a match will turn away from the ref and make an 鈥渙h my gosh I just got away with that鈥� face.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Her mom later told me that a coach from another team stopped her later and told her what she did was very classy. A random stranger complimented her for being honest.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 She鈥檚 a very good leader on the team because of that and the quote above personifies her. The amazing thing is any one of the young ladies on the team actually fits this mold and had they been the one to touch the ball any one of them I believe would turn to let the ref know they didn鈥檛 deserve the point, that they had touched the ball.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Additionally people talk about youth not having work ethic anymore and being lazy and to be honest, I used to agree somewhat; but, this team is made up of kids from grades seven to ten from across the southeast who are all tough and hardworking. They work so hard out there on the court that I can鈥檛 imagine them not working hard whether it is at school or at work. They鈥檝e actually changed my opinion of what I thought youth were beginning to turn out to be. Although, people look at my generation as lazy and entitled too, so I should have known better.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 They鈥檙e tougher than I thought too. In a practice game the other day one of the other girls actually got hit in the face, a time out was taken for the stinging to subside, and then she said she was fine to go back in. The person who had hit her in the face was serving and welcomed her back after the time out by sending the ball her way. She passed a perfect one to the setter immediately. She never complained and just dug in to finish off the game like nothing had happened playing just as hard after as she had before.
