Today I was lucky enough to enter my high school’s athletic hall of fame and have my basketball jersey retired.  I thought I would share a few segments from my speech where I try to describe the positive experience that playing high school sports had on my life and personal development.  Many others share similar experiences, so hopefully this provides some insight into the value of sports at the high school level.  If not, at least it affords me an opportunity to shamelessly brag.

My junior year, as the basketball season was winding down, I set an individual goal for myself of scoring 600 points.  In the final game of the season against Menlo, I was just one point away as I came down the floor on a fast break in the 4^th quarter.  I jumped and was about to release the ball and lay it in, when I saw my teammate Jason sprinting down the floor out of the corner of my eye.  Now Jason had never scored before.  This was perhaps his last opportunity.  I turned and fired the ball at his chest.  He paused for a second, which felt a lot longer, put up the shot and nailed it.  His dad started sprinting up and down the sideline like the coach of a Cinderella NCAA tournament team that has just pulled off a thrilling victory.

And that was my single favorite moment as a Priory athlete.  I ended up getting my 600^th point, but I don’t even remember how.  It was so meaningless compared to the joy of my favorite assist.

I think that says something about what sports is all about.  It’s about brotherhood or sisterhood, looking beyond yourself, being a good leader but also being a good follower.  It’s about the recognition that reaching one’s full potential is not achieved through individualism and selfishness, but community and cooperation, selflessness and sacrifice.

Now making one pass does not necessarily mean I have or had those values or lived them out in full, but playing team sports in high school did help to instill values that have shaped my life, however imperfectly I have lived them.  These values are the values of integrity, authenticity, a commitment to excellence, dedication, fearlessness, teamwork, unselfishness, joy, gratitude, and passion.

Some of these I learned on the court, while others I learned though other experiences that came from being part of a team.

As a freshman I was called up to the varsity basketball team for a couple of games because they were a couple players short of a full roster.  On the way home from my first game, one of the varsity players, Terrell, was eating some fries.  Other players were helping themselves.  He said I could have some too and I tried to play it cool like the others, but he quickly said, “What?!  You don’t say thank you?!”  All the guys in the back of the bus, including Terrell, started laughing and practically rolling around and I’m sure my face turned more than a little red.  But what I realized is that even if he was just having a little fun with me, he was right.  It’s more important to be yourself than to fit in.  It’s more important to do the right thing, in this case express gratitude, than to be or act cool.  It’s little moments like this that can shape one’s values and character.

A similar experience occurred on the soccer field.  A JV player who was skipping out on practice was trying to sneak past Coach Joe by the varsity field as he returned from the corner store.  Coach Joe called him over and as they were talking, the varsity players were all going through his bag and opening up the chips and cookies.  I was about to dart over and join them when one of my teammates, Ed, turned to me and said softly, “Bobby…don’t.”  It was a reminder to be the person I knew I should be rather than to just go with the crowd.  And it is a lesson that has stuck with me over time.

(…Expressions of gratitude to various people…)

Sometimes we do things that don’t produce the results that we would like, that come up short of our expectations.  In fact, one of the best things about sports is that it teaches us about failure.  Failure is an essential ingredient to character and creativity- demanding perseverance, resilience, grit, and determination.  You cannot push yourself to new limits, to new heights without ever failing.  Greatness demands a willingness to fail.  I’m a perfectionist so I hate failure, but playing sports has definitely helped me to challenge myself and push myself in my education and career.

And sometimes we can only lay a foundation for the success of others.  I am reminded of the prayer A Future Not Our Own, which includes this part:

We plant the seeds that one
day will grow. We water the seeds already planted
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects
far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of
liberation in realizing this.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning

…