Victory is Sweet!

Last night was amazing.  It’s been a rough basketball season for the 5/6^th grade basketball team.  They have suffered some devastating and somewhat demoralizing defeats throughout this season.  They have been matched with teams of greater height, age and skill, all season long and it has been exhausting to watch.  I have not attended the last several games due to Eddie having a terrible cough and bad cold.  I finally made it out to one of their last games and boy, was I glad I did!

The game was competitive from the very beginning.  Our team fought hard and was either leading or loosing by a few points the whole time!  It’s amazing how much better our team has become since the last time I saw them play. I was especially impressed with Hunter who really helped win the game for the team with all the foul shots that he made.  He has never played basketball before until this season and I have never seen someone take to a new sport like him.  He has incredible potential and the coaches have done their best to encourage and teach him the game. The other boys fought hard for rebounds and hustled the whole game giving a 100%.

In the final 15 seconds of the game, I started sending out text messages to my prayer warriors telling them to pray because we could possibly have our first win of the year!  I grabbed the people next to me and prayed during a time-out.  We were 4 points ahead and then the other team made their 2 free throw shots and all we had to do was hold onto the ball and we would win.  The other team gained possession of the ball and this small kid shot, as the buzzer was sounding and swished what looked like was a 3 point shot, which would have won the game for them.  I was stunned and disappointed for our boys and for the coaches who were so hopeful.  I saw the referee waving his hands and yelling something.  Finally, in jubilation, I heard that the boy was standing on the 3 point line, therefore it was only a 2 point basket and we had officially had our first win of the season.  I jumped up and down as I watched our boys hug and cheer!  I rushed over to capture this momentous occasion for these young boys who have worked so hard, for this moment!!  I was so grateful to the Lord for letting them win at least one game because they will never forget it!

Dan has coached about 14 teams that Bubba has played on from the time he turned 4 and has been a very successful, beloved coach.  This has been a very hard season. He fights downtown traffic and skips dinner to get to practice three nights a week. Poor Eddie and sometimes the girls are sleeping by the time he gets home. He is always exhausted and loosing all the time makes it worse.  This victory made all the sacrifice of never seeing his family worth it! It did my heart good to see him rejoicing with the team!  What has been a tremendous blessing for Dan, is coaching with Brad and Troy.  They have filled in when Dan is late or can’t make a game and have bonded as coaches and friends! It's truly been a team effort!   My prayer for this team is that they will grow in teamwork, skill and friendship but above all else that they will always give God the glory in all that they do!

 

PS-I failed to mention another highlight of the game!  Getting a tweet with a picture of James chilling out in his favorite all time shirt! LOL