Ada boy... great hustle!

I've never been more excited and proud to coach a team to a 20 point loss. Growing up, I remember several coaches telling me that as long as we played with all our hearts, it didn't matter what the outcome of the game was. The game last Friday was probably the only time I've been involved with such a game... where the team left everything on the court, and the final score did not matter.

That's what happened the other day in my shoe shiner's first ever official game. We played against the American school's varsity team, and like I said we got beat by 20. But it didn't matter, because it was so exciting to see the guys (there were only 5 of them... no subs) diving on the floor, running the court, making some pretty jumpers and doing some things I've never seen any team do (like looking into the post frequently and actually bounce passing the entry pass... I don't even do that) in their first game with refs and a score board.

The best part of it all was the way they broke down walls. They played hard. Really hard. Down by 20 with a couple minutes left and they were hustling down loose balls, sacrificing themselves for the team, and if they didn't come up with the ball, they did come up with a smile. So these guys shine shoes for a living. But they are great people, just like the students at the American school. I didn't have to preach that to anyone. The team did it themselves through their actions and smiles.

And, as I already knew, they are so much fun. The afternoon game was a coaching highlight for me. And just for the record, we won the fourth quarter.