Like all of you, I often have ideas. I break mine down into two categories; the good ones, which come from the Lord, and the bad ones, which come from my own imagination with I suspect, some help from the Evil One. About ten days ago, as I was falling asleep, the thought came to me that we should give an award on my team at regular intervals. The next morning, I sat down with our four returning players- Sydney, Lizeth, Madison, Jenna- and my student assistant, Marie, and hashed out the details. They liked it. I asked each of them to give me one descriptive characteristic on which we would base the honor. Including mine, this is what we came up with:
-hard working
-improving
-good listener
-determined
-perseverance
-kindness
We decided to give it once a week although I think we will have to adjust that as the school year goes on. Each week, one of the four veteran players- and one of the vets is all of eleven- will sit down with Marie and me and we'll pick one girl deserving of a little special recognition. We decided to give a trophy which the honoree would get to keep in her school locker until her successor is named. I went up into the school attic and found a 15 year old trophy, covered with dust, but it has a basketball player on top. With a little Endust and my student classroom teacher aide, Megan Hill- just nominated for Homecoming Queen!- doing some renaming the trophy with a label maker, we were set to go.
The coronation day and the name of the trophy are related. We came to the conclusion that we should do it on Friday and we should call it The Capri Sun Player Of The Week. I'm not really sure how it started but about five years ago, I began bringing Capri Suns, fruit juices in a pouch, to celebrate the end of the week of practice every Friday and we practice every first period of the year. It might seem like a small thing to an adult but traditions loom large for youngsters. And then, there was the matter of choosing the first recipient. We had a ceremony at the conclusion of Friday's practice attended by two teachers, Mrs. Turner and Miss Fontenot, and our varsity coach, Josh Bailey. By acclaim, the winner was ..........Jordyn! I really like Jordyn! When she was only a first grader, we were in a wedding together as I was the minister and she the flower girl hand picked by Miss Kristina, now Mrs. Kristina Irizarry! She is going to a basketball camp on the weekends and always tells me about it on Monday. We only have one team and aren't in a position to suit everyone up for games but how about this: Jordyn asked me if she could be the student manager when we play! Let me tell you as a coach, that is a rare attitude! This will tell you what you need to know about this young lady- she loves everybody and everybody loves her in return. Her locker is going to be crowded for the next week or so but I think she'll manage. In Romans 13;7, Paul spoke of giving honor where honor is due. That's what we'll try to do; not to glorify scoring or athletic ability, although those are not bad traits! We will try to recognize the qualities that hopefully mark us as a team...and we'll wash them down with Capri Suns. That's a winning combination in any league.
Applicable quote of the day:
"Dignity consists not in possessing honors but in the consciousness that we deserve them."
Aristotle
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com
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