What's Epic about Sports

We've spent the past two weeks indulging ourselves, gorging our brains on the olympics.  We love seeing people show what the human person can do. 

However, the most exciting sport I've seen in recent memory, was the 5th-6th grade CYO basketball game played this past evening.  These girls never played ball before this year.  There are only eight total on the team, and over the course of the season, often one or two have been ill. (Never the same two, but often two are).   They've struggled to score.  They haven't won a game.   Sometimes, they made shots at the wrong basket. 

This evening however, they put it all together.  Everyone dribbled. Everyone passed.  Everyone tried if they didn'ts succeed, to get the ball in the hoop.  They took foul shots.  They scored 14 points.
Seeing girls who used to be afraid of the ball, take it down the court, fight for the ball when it's stollen, and maybe even steal it back, this was the victory. Yes, there were still rainbow passes, but there were also rebounds and good passes and teamwork.  It wasn't one kid, it was all of them. 
Every girl who played in that game, wanted the season to continue, not just this week but for weeks more. For a team who has lost most games 40-2, (twice) or 38 to 2, 36 to 6, or in the closest match, 32 to 8, this was the best and closest game ever. The other team won, scoring five more baskets.   

On the gym wall was a posted sign reminding everyone, "They are kids.  This is CYO. The coaches are volunteers.  The refs are humans.  This is not D-1."  I wanted to whoop.  This is CYO. These are our kids. The coaches rock.  It's not D-1. It's so much more.   Every girl walked off that court this evening taller reminding all of us, what the human can do isn't confined to the professional level.