Selah people' and friends...
When I reflect on my life, I can say, with certainty, that some of my most valuable "life lessons" came from playing sports in high school. Those lessons helped in shaping my attitude, my character, and in short, making me into the person I am today. For me they were....priceless.
I was checking this book review out at SimpleTruths.com. Finish Strong: Teen Athlete : it is Dan Green's follow up to his best-selling book Finish Strong (the book and the mantra the New Orleans Saints used along their journey to become the 2009 Super Bowl Champions).
Finish Strong: Teen Athlete identifies 16 key principles for developing the champion within, and no matter which sport is played, any teen athlete (male or female) can learn from it. With "quick hit chapters" and visually stimulating graphics, teens will benefit from this inspiring collection of stories and lessons learned. It has the potential to be life changing.
Today, I'd too would like to share a story in the book called: "Respect will carry you home."
An excerpt from Finish Strong: Teen Athlete...
Developing the Champion Within, by Dan Green
Western Oregon University's Sara Tucholsky had no idea that the first - and, as it turns out, only - homerun of her career would cause ripples that would make her last swing of the bat as a college softball player a national media sensation.
With two runners on and her team down a run to Central Washington University, Sara hit a homerun to centerfield. As she rounded first base, she missed the bag. When she turned to tag the base, she injured her knee. Able only to crawl back to the base, Sara was told that she would be called out if her teammates came to her aid. If a pinch runner checked into the game, her homerun would count only as a single.
Players and fans alike were stunned when Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman, the conference's all-time homerun leader, asked the umpire if there was any rule against opponents helping an injured player around the bases.
She was told that there was not. Together, Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace picked up Tucholsky and carried her around the bases, stopping at each bag to allow Sara to touch it with her good leg. "It was the right thing to do," Holtman said in an interview on national television, after the respectful act of sportsmanship had been witnessed by millions on ESPN and had become a YouTube sensation.
The three runs sent Western Oregon to a 4-2 victory, ending Central Washington's chances of winning the conference and advancing to the playoffs.
"It's a great story," Western Oregon coach Pam Knox said, "something I'll never forget - the game's about character and integrity and sportsmanship, and it's not always about winning and losing."
As it turns out, the players who helped Sara had no idea of the circumstances surrounding the at-bat, or that the story would make headlines around the country. "We didn't know that she was a senior or that this was her first home run," Wallace said Wednesday. "That makes the story more touching than it was.
We just wanted to help her." The gesture left Sara's Western Oregon teammates in tears. "I hope I would do the same for her in the same situation," Sara said. Central Washington coach Gary Frederick called the act of sportsmanship "unbelievable."
"In the end, it is not about winning and losing so much," Holtman, who initiated the act, said. "It was about this girl. She hit it over the fence and was in pain, and she deserved a homerun."
May you and I be ready to finish strong and continue to help others young and old. Something to think about.
Your brother in Christ,
Patrick
Rev Patrick Muston, Senior Pastor
Selah Christian Church
Four Oaks, NC
http://selahchurch.com
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