Almost but not Quite
This is one of the life lessons that sports teaches. These experiences help strengthen one's emotional intelligence. I feel it's crucial to experience this at an early age. They would learn to cherish and celebrate their victories. This helps prepare kids to face the wins and losses of life.
More importantly, it is when we encounter losses that we gain more life experiences. With the right mentors and with the right attitude, we learn how to face and overcome our failures, and at the same time, learn from our mistakes. We strive to improve ourselves so that the next time we go in, we do better.
A team that goes up against a superior team has to work doubly hard to be able to match the opponent, if not catch up. This is life. Not everyone is created equal. No matter how good your team is, there will always be a better team around.
That's why I encourage my kids to join sports, aside from the physical benefits sports offer.
At the end, it's always the team with the grit that emerges as the winner. The team who will not give up. And sometimes, it's the team with an individual who won't give up. The team who pushes hard, no matter how tired they are.
I got into this pensive mood while watching the game before Zach's. When we arrived, Linköping was down 14 points during the third quarter. The other team, Katrineholm, played better. They made good shots, and good passes. Linköping kept on missing their shots. They made bad passes which made Katrineholm get lots of steals. I wasn't hopeful for the Linköping team then.
By fourth quarter, the Linköping team pulled themselves together, and played as a team. They rotated the ball, helped each other. They found their confidence, and the score difference slowly shrinked.
During the last 2 minutes of the fourth quarter, it was 53-52 in favor of Linköping. Unfortunately, Katrineholm was fouled just close to the last minute of the game but only converted one basket to a point, which led to 53-53 and an overtime. Both teams didn't give up. They both put in good defense. In the end, Linköping made a basket. End score was 55-53.
Today was Zach's team's first basketball match. The kids were nervous but nonetheless excited. I was worried when the score was at 7-0 in favor of the opposing team. In the end, they found their rhythm and played better. The game ended with the other team winning 29-20.
On the way out, I asked how was the experience. Zach said he had fun but was disappointed because he could have done much more better. Manong said he did good but there are room for improvements. They then talked about pointers, and how Zach could improve. I was happy 😎
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