Sweat drips down my face, squatting down in defensive position, I see in the corner of my eye the point guard in motion to pass my player the ball. Thoughts rushing through my head. 'Should I go for it or not?' In a split second I decide to go for it. Because of the slightest hesitation, I'm too late. My player catches the ball, and goes towards the basket. Luckily I have help side from my teammate. Because I'm out of the picture however, they make an extra 2 passes for a wide open 3. Drains it. I hear Coach Visger yell from the sidelines as she grabs someone to sub for me: "THE CHAIN BREAKS AT ITS WEAKEST POINT". I realize that for those 5 seconds, I was the weak point of the chain.
From this, there are 2 different perspectives. "Why not play individual sports so you don't disappoint the whole team when you mess up?" Or, "that's the beauty of team sports". There are pros and cons to both individual sports and team sports. Even after an experience like this, I have to say I'm a little by-est toward one side-team sports, and let me explain why.
I remember my junior year of high school. I had gone through soccer season during the fall, basketball season during winter, and now it's spring time. I had played softball the 2 previous years so everyone just assumed I would continue on with that. I had decided right after basketball season that I wanted to focus on that sport and see if I could have a chance at playing college ball. Due to that-I was playing club basketball year around. When I brought that up with my new softball coach, she let me know the team rule...no club sports, period.
At this point, I had made a decision with myself to give my all to basketball. I had two options: Lie and say I wasn't playing club so I could play both. Or turning in my softball jersey. I knew I would feel guilty not giving my all in softball when so many other girls were.
After lots of lots of praying, I finally recognized my answer. "It's up to you". Ahhh, my least favorite answer! So, I decided not to play softball. And since Heavenly Father decided to hand it over to me, I choose to try out for golf of all things!
It was the first time in my life I had played a individual sport competitively. My thoughts, "Man, this will be great. I don't have to be accountable to anyone. I can just worry about myself. And if someone else on my team has a bad round, it doesn't affect me!" (Yeah, don't ever think that. Rookie mistake).
Those two years of golf solidified to me the importance of working as a team not only in sports, but in life. Although it may seem like it, never are we alone playing individual sports in life. Even things like PR's (personal records) need to be accounted to someone. Just some of my favorite qualities of teamwork are these: support, unity, accountability, and just plain old having someone's back.
So in life, how do we have someone's back? My personal opinion...sharing with them something that they will benefit from. If your teammate is having a hard time getting footwork down and you can see it, give them a tip or two. If someone just recently lost a loved one and you know about God's plan for us being that they will get to see them again-well then...TELL THEM! From basketball skills to sharing the gospel...by doing it out of love is how they will be receptive to it best.
To finish I want to share 2 of my goals I have made just recently that I want to apply to the rest of my life. And I would strongly encourage all to follow make some like these that will be personalized toward you...probably taking mine up a notch or two.
-DO AT LEAST ONE CONSCIOUS ACT OF SERVICE EACH DAY.
-GET OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE AT LEAST ONCE A DAY TO SHARE WHAT I KNOW WITH OTHERS.
Simple yet challenging. I know that as we are thinking of others, this life will be better for everyone. We truly are all one team, slash ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY working to achieve the better for the world.
And because of that...I will end this by saying...LOVE YOU ALL and keep up the great work!
~Sister Duncan
