CHAMPION: 2010-2011 FIGHTING LANCERS

When the buzzer sounded last night ending the basketball season for the Western Christian Fighting Lancers varsity basketball team, I started mulling over the losses. We played the Mustangs of John Muir High School from Pasadena. It was the second round and we were coming off a first round victory against Kern Valley. We scouted Muir well and knew what they would bring. And my guys stepped up huge cutting off the Mustangs’ attempt to drive to the basket. We held them to just 15 points at the half. But this ain’t a recap of the game. You should’ve been there.

What I was thinking at game’s end was that all 12 of my guys are seniors and their season is officially done. For four years these guys have been brothers, playing together, experiencing man-like transformation together and developing the mettle champions display. I told those dudes in the locker room after the game that the hard part about what they’ve gained this year is that it’s almost completely intangible. How do you show the world that you are 100% better than you were a year earlier at submitting to the truth, identifying pure motives for competition, valuing the reputation you’ve created, etc.? They know that the world doesn’t value these progressions. All anyone will see on Maxpreps.com is that we ended 13-13. But that’s part of the champion. He knows what he’s gained and doesn’t diminish it. He knows that every one of the 13 losses was a winnable game that could have gone either way because only two of the 13 losses were by double digits. He also knows that every lesson from this season is transferable.

I prayed on several occasions this year for my guys to be able to stem the tide of losses. When we were under .500 and losing to teams like Garey High School in double overtime with only 8 seconds remaining I felt it unfair. I couldn’t understand why we couldn’t will ourselves to victory or execute just one more key possession. Even with our best player out for the season, I still believed that if you can lose by 2 you can win by 5. I’ve never seen a team play three double-overtime games in one season. We did against Aquinas High School, Chaffey and Garey I believe, not to mention the single overtime games we played. What team does that? Most teams never even play one? What in the world…? But I have to believe that ultimately, champions are the most honest people. When your team is stacked with superstars it’s easily to fall into delusion and false prowess. The overwhelming giftedness of your team dominates. But we weren’t the Miami Heat. We were smart dog-fighting men who were naive enough to think that we could beat anyone on any night and I’d do it all over again next year with the same group if they weren’t collecting diplomas at year’s end.

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