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So I recently unearthed a sport.
A sport that I have scantily participated in, mostly while having fun, learning the fundamentals…a few attempts at dribbling and equally managing a few successful shots. Nothing highbrow.
A sport that I have actively participated in, watching some of the best players in my home turf killing it!
Basketball.
You see, I have never really been intrigued by sports. I played badminton (twice or thrice) in high school and that was it for me.
So absolve my unscholarliness on this subject. But this one, this sport, is an interesting one!
It’s known to be the sport with a swag, or so I think.
How most of the players are towering beings, with enormous feet. Sometimes I tend to think that they breath a slightly different, unpolluted air. Like there’s a zone above us that only they can access.
And so this past week I had an opportunity to watch the East Africa Inter-City Challenge. I never knew I could watch a sport with bated breath, that I could cover my eyes so as not to watch a player from a team I wasn’t supporting make a shot, or cheer the dunks and 3-pointers!
Interestingly, I noted that if a player made a killer pass or a dunk, the fans would give a standing ovation regardless of the team they were supporting.
But as much as there was impressive dunking, shooting, ball-handling, dribbling, rebounding and shot-blocking;
the moments that stood out for me,
that moved me,
that subjected me to the onion effect were these..
How when a player fell, an opponent would give a helping hand. I found this ironically interesting. Especially in the manner they did it.
How when the players from both teams would line up before and after the game to shake hands or high -five each other. I couldn’t help notice how genuine the losing team would congratulate their opponents.
How they respected their coaches and teammates. I never at any one point saw a player defy a coach’s order.
How during the free shots after a foul, the team mates would still high five the shooter even if he missed the shot.
I was given one word that sums up the above; sportsmanship.
Aren’t we challenged to practice some sportsmanship? Even when we are in support of different political parties? Challenged to give a word of encouragement even when we are being let down? Challenged to show respect and submit to authority?
That encounter humbled me.
Please have a sportsmanship-filled weekend, will you?
PS; I managed a capture as a fan with one of my fave players from Mogadishu. No.22! Grin!
Surrender Chronicles 