HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS GOOD FOR KIDS...

I am sure that High Schools across the country do not promote "Ultimate Fighting" as one of their sports, so I'll say that most high school sports, if not all, are great for kids.

Joby Gray & Brock Walker -both
golfers and basketball players-, sit with
"double" duty Coach and mentor,
Garrett Mantle in Weatherford.

Sports teach you to win and lose, to compare yourself to others, but mainly to compare you to yourself... Are you improving? Do you make more free throws than last week?, do you make more 10 footers than the previous golf season?, or hit more greens? Do you complete more passes or make more catches and fewer fumbles? Team records do not count here, this is where individuals are individuals. Why? Because no matter what happens, you will always compare you to yourself.

Coaches, regardless of the win-loss record, become mentors and role models -God Bless them! Who would want that job anyway?-, and players become students of more than books, some of them become leaders and role models. Sports help you learn that hard work and giving it all, helps you succeed at a personal level. Kids usually join a team in order to compete and always with the thought that maybe they will make a difference on a team, they will "make things happen". And once they join, if things do not go as well as they had dreamed, they continue fighting to the end, because they hate losing (we all do), and they fight "until the last dog dies".

This week I had the pleasure and honor of watching a lopsided basketball game in which our kids were on the losing side. It was truly a mismatch, and like the kids or coach Mantle, I didn't "enjoy" the whipping, but I was happy to see that all of them kept fighting until the end. No one gave up, and even when there were 10 seconds left, they wanted to score one more basket, the last basket of the game would be a small victory in itself. Whether they realize it or not, they gave us a lesson in character.  There is never dishonor in losing, there is only dishonor in not competing and giving up because you are afraid of losing.

We should be very proud of the kids that represent us in all of the high school sports. I do not have the privilege of knowing every one of them, or their records or their skills, or the school present and past records, and I confess that I only went to that basketball game -as I once went to a football game, but couldn't recognize anyone with helmets on!-, because two of the members of the basketball team are on the golf team as well, and wanted to share a moment with them away from the golf course, learning more about what makes them "tick".

So, in a round about way, it was good that I witnessed a loss, but only because I saw how they handled themselves in a tough situation. It is easy to be at peace and look confident when you win, it is not so easy when you lose. I am sure they were upset, disappointed, frustrated, but in the end, proud that they did not give up.

Soon, the golf course will be full of kids representing Elk City High School in yet another sport with which I am more familiar. Golf adds to their search and maturing of the character that they have shown so far. Like always, they will play and learn with the highest degree of respect, honor and dignity. And, there, I'll the the student!