Winning Ranked Forty-eighth

Winning Ranked Forty-Eighth

After our first game in my daughter’s coach-pitch softball league, I asked our league director if it was right for the coaches of the other team to have their girls round the bag at first base on their way to second when the ball is hit in the infield with a throw coming to first.

Initially, she said it was fine, as this was a strategy for tournament play. Feeling that it was both tacky and unsafe, I argued that the most important thing at this point in the season was teaching the proper fundamentals, and running through the bag was the proper play. After a few more e-mails and a phone call, she finally concurred. It took me reminding her that there is an orange safety bag at first base for a reason for her to see that this had to be addressed. But she said, “I will address it as a safety issue only.”

Author Mark Hyman, professor of sports management at George Washington University, said, “We no longer value participation. We value excellence.” This is another way of saying, “We value winning.”^a Don’t get me wrong, winning and being excellent are good, and there is a time and place and age for it. But many push their teams at the young ages to win at all costs. They cut corners, or round the bag, in a way that dishonors the game, teaching their children that this is the way to compete. The Bible tells us what God thinks of this dishonesty. Proverbs 11:1 states, “The LORD detests the use of dishonest scales, but he delights in accurate weights.”

Let’s keep this in mind as we pursue the next championship trophy. Amanda Visek, also a professor at George Washington University, surveyed 150 children about what makes sports fun for them. The kids listed eighty-one different factors that made them happy playing sports. Winning ranked forty-eighth.

The LORD detests the use of dishonest scales, but he delights in accurate weights.

Proverbs 11:1