100-0 basketball win equals ‘victory without honor’

Although this story struck a nerve, I wasn’t going to write about it because I felt the girls of the Dallas Academy basketball team might want to forget about the whole thing. But now I can’t ignore it.

For those who haven’t heard, the 8-member girls basketball team at Dallas Academy (The White Rock-area school with a focus on teaching students with a variety of special learning needs) got beat 100-0 by The Covenant School in a recent game.

It sparked a lot of talk and controversy over the past few days for obvious reasons — or at least I thought the reasons were obvious.

OK, if I must … the reason: It’s a matter of poor sportsmanship, simply. I don’t care who the schools are — parochial, private, public, “special learning” schools, or whatever. (By the way, I know several students at Dallas Academy and they aren’t in any way weak or slow—that is beside the point).

As a parent, I’d be far more embarrassed to be on the 100-point scoring side. In fact, I would have pulled my kid out of the game and said "enough is enough" and explained my views. (Work on drills work on skills. But stop shooting once you’re ahead by 30 or 40 points — that’s the way any of my much loved and respected coaches of the past would’ve handled it, I feel quite sure.)

REALLY. I’m not one of those sissy moms that wants everything to be “fair”. In fact, I come from a very (overly?) competitive family and athletic lifestyle. I’m all about winning and pushing. This, however, is an entirely different deal. The coach of the Covenant team had an opportunity here to teach his girls about sportsmanship and that bullying doesn’t equal strength. I’ve always seen sports as a metaphor for life, and this coach failed miserably at an opportunity to teach a life lesson here.

But when I expressed as such yesterday, not everyone (even some of the Dallas Academy parents) seemed to share my opinion (which really irked me).

Now it seems the Covenant school is making amends. See the public apology and request for forfeit on their website. The head of the school called the event "shameful … embarrassing … and a victory without honor." The quick and humble handling of the matter on his part is impressive. Plus, those girls from Dallas Academy have a great attitude — they showed a lot of spunk and mature perspective through this whole thing.

Posted by: Christina Hughes Babb on January 23rd, 2009 in All Blog Posts, Education
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j-ro

That’s an unfortunate story. Kudos to the officials at Covenant for recognizing their mistake and apologizing. Let’s hope the girls at Dallas Academy stick it out and have a fun and rewarding rest of the season. I thought I’d share <a href=”http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3789563″>this story</a> from a team in Grapevine that seems to be a more uplifting story of sportsmanship.
LH resident for 50+ years

I know of two more coaches in a Lake Highlands elementary school who could use a few lessons in sportsmanship, too. Their prejudice against an 11 year old boy they didn’t want as a 5th year returning player on their NON-SELECT team, has caused much distrees in his young life. These are formative years for children, and it is the coaches responsibility to set positive, non-judgemental, leadership examples. Unfortunately, this type of adult behavior is accepted, even after much protest to the SVAA. The boy is devastated about this rejection, and afraid to call his childhood friends, for fear that they will make fun of him. Personal accountability is a lost virtue in most households these days…not in ours.
kathy

This story even made the 5:30 ABCNews last night (Friday).

LHres+50: My heart aches for your 11-year-old! Life can be hard enough for kids at that age without us adults adding to it. Wish a hug could cure this one!
Long-Time-Local

LH 50+
I heard about your sad story through the LH grapevine, and those coaches should be banned from the league. It’s unbelievable that the families on the team didn’t join together to insure your child was included. 5th grade basketball is non-competitive at this age. Ever hear of “Rudy”? That was competitive college ball, and Rudy’s story should set the example to those who think bullying 11 year olds is acceptable. This doesn’t bode well for our community reputation. Which of our four elementary schools did this happen in? Was it reported to the principal? Very sad, indeed.
BAH

LH 50+
Your story circulated through the neighborhood grapevine. Very sad, indeed. Rejecting children and teaching that winning is the goal, is the opposite direction in leadership, and will leave life-long scars. Let’s hope that we all learn a lesson about including all skill levels in a non-competitive environment for elementary and middle school children. Remember “Rudy”?
Any recommendations for these team sports? Rules, guidelines and accountabiity is a good place to start!
Matt T.

Situations such as these wouldn’t happen if there were definite rules and prompt consequences in each district regarding team players, scoring, coaches conduct, and parent conduct. Where did this breakdown begin? What happened to the coaches of yesteryear who set the example, expecting others to follow suit? And parents showed the ref.’s and coaches respect, too. Nothing good comes from poor leadership, and no accountability. It’s that simple.
Curious

Whatever happened to the Golden Rule? Isn’t Covenant a “Christian” school?
Old School

Not really feeling it. Everything I’ve seen from the folks on the “0″ end of the score have no problem with it. Now the Covenant coach has been fired – how about firing the coach that keeps his team on the court when they’re down 59-0 at halftime? Nor has his team won a game in what, 4 years?

I wasn’t there to see what went down, but if the Dallas Academy girls were on the court and playing (instead of simply standing in a cluster by the bench or something), what were the Covenant girls supposed to do? They could have played “4 corners” and let the shot clock expire without taking a shot, but I think that might make me feel worse if I were a player on the losing end. I know it drove my soccer team crazy when we’d be on the losing end of a 6-0 or 6-1 game and the other team would start trying not to score. My girls were still trying their hardest – why shouldn’t the team that was administering the beating?

Either you’re there to play, or you’re not. If your team isn’t able to compete, isn’t there a time to re-evaluate and decide whether that team serves a purpose?