Sheer luck or hard work?

My basketball girls had a match with Compassvale Secondary on friday. They put up a real good fight against their opponents but sadly still lost by 3 points in the end.

I was not disappointed, let alone upset. I could see that they had tried their best for this match. It was definitely a better game than the first one on Tuesday. If I were to comment, I can only say that they could have been the winners if they had been more accurate in their shooting and if they had been more alert during the game. But then again, I know that the pressure mounted on them as they walk into the court to play is tremendous. It was not easy for these girls too.

Most of them cried on the way back to school. They were disappointed with themselves for losing this match by a mere 3 points. They reproached themselves for letting coach and me down. What I can say to them is this :

Don't be silly girls, you did a good job. Narrowing the score gap after the second quarter and finally coming so close to winning is a feat itself. As long as we walk away from the court knowing that we had done our best, no one can fault us.

Take each defeat as a learning point. What can we learn from here? What should we work on to improve ourselves for the next match? Thinking through these questions is definitely more constructive than lamenting over our lost. We don't cry over spilled milk, but rather, we should think about how not to spill the milk again.

In my bid to expose the girls to the 'real spirit' of basketball, I actually made a suggestion to the girls to watch the Men's division II match the next day. 75% of them went down. I was there too. It was a match between the coach's team and my friend's team. An exciting match it was. The fighting spirit from both teams was so strong that I was impressed. They both had strong desire to win. They fought hard to grab hold of the ball at every opportunity. They were alert at all times. If they lost the ball due to a little mistake on their part, they try really hard to get back the ball to score again. They knew when to shoot a 3 pointer ball in order to close the gap in the score. They are swift runners. Their stamina is tip top. These are all the qualities I hope my girls picked up as they watched the game.

The score came really close during the 4th quarter. I thought they would end up with a draw and get extra play time. But at the last 30sec, coach's team scored and they were declared the winners of that match.

"So is this sheer luck or hard work?" I asked myself.

I guess in this case, luck played a part.

Can we depend on luck every time then? I had discussed this issue in my previous entry and hence I guess I will not elaborate further.

I saw the triumphant smiles on my coach's side contrasted with the downcasted looks over at my friend's team. It reminded me of my girls' match the day before.

I guess basketball is such. You have to grab hold of every opportunity to score. You must possess the spirit to fight till the end. You must understand that sometimes it is not because you are not good enough if you lost the game. Luck do play a part at times too. But it is definitely unwise to depend on luck every time. Possessing the right skills and quick mind to decide on your next move on court is equally important. It is a game of strategy, skills and perseverance. YOU MUST ALSO HAVE THAT STRONG DESIRE TO WIN through fair play.

Girls, do you understand?