Being a Good Sport
As many of you already know, Moral Compass is one of the four parts of our Falling Creek Code. It’s modeled by doing the right thing, acting with integrity, taking responsibility for your actions, and telling the truth. In many ways, displaying your moral compass happens when showing good sportsmanship. This is exactly what the Morning Watch topic was about on Thursday morning, when Joe Lane led our thought for the day.
He began the morning by sharing a story from his time playing baseball. The opposing team had two outs, and Joe was going for the catch to make it three. The ball slipped out of his hands as he dove for it, but he threw it to first base and the umpires called it in his favor. Immediately there was an uproar from the opposing team’s parents and coaches, but the umpires believed they had made the right call. Though he didn’t have to own up to the mistaken call, Joe chose to tell the umpire that he actually hadn’t caught the ball. This forfeit the call for his team, and meant that the two teams were now tied instead of his team being ahead.
Joe said that he’ll never forget how quiet it was. “It sounded like this,” he said, motioning to us silently listening at Morning Watch. He was afraid he had done the wrong thing by telling the truth, because his teammates were upset with him. They ended up losing the game, and Joe described how down he felt as he walked back to the car, wondering if being honest had really been worth all the disappointment.
However, as was walking he heard someone run up behind him and tap him on the shoulder. It was a father from the other team, who wanted to congratulate him on his sportsmanship and honesty. “Not many people would have had the guts to tell the truth in that situation,” he told Joe. This raised his spirits significantly, but he didn’t realize that the father was also the coach of the All-Star team. Joe was asked to join the local All-Star team, specifically because the coach appreciated his values and sportsmanship, and said they could use more players like him in the game.
Though Joe didn’t go on to play baseball at a higher level, he learned a lot from his time in the sport, and especially from moments like this that challenged him to stay true to his values. He encouraged the boys to always be honest and do what’s right, even in difficult situations.
Around camp, it’s always nice to see similar examples of sportsmanship. This happens nightly during our Evening Programs, which are often large scale games as a Line or a whole camp community. On Wednesday night, we played “Camper Hunt,” which was a huge hit. Just like Counselor Hunt in reverse, the campers headed out to hide while the counselors looked for them, and had to catch them by pulling their flag belts once they were found. Though both teams were competitive, the Green team ended up victorious. Even so, the Gold team didn’t show any signs of pouting or being unsportsmanlike.
Flag football is one of our most popular activities, especially with a strong competitive spirit among our campers, and it’s also a great place to see sportsmanship in action. It can be tempting to “flag guard,” or protect the flags on your belt by pushing someone’s hand away, or holding your belt so you don’t get “out.” Cal, one of our flag football counselors, commended Wells for his honesty on the field yesterday. During a play, one of the other campers claimed that Wells had been flag guarding. Instead of lying or trying to act like he hadn’t, Wells owned up to it and took his flag belt off, modeling great honesty even when it would have been easy to brush it off and keep playing.
In the Dining Hall yesterday, boys could be seen playing ping pong, foosball, warrior ball, chess, and Magic the Gathering with each other. I asked the boys playing Magic if they ever had to deal with any players being unsportsmanlike. “You can be toxic by playing in a way that annoys people or by being mean about it, but there’s not really any of that kind of playing here,” Oliver said. He was playing cards with Rhys, who agreed with him and said, “Yeah, everyone’s really nice here.” Both of them play at home, but they don’t have many chances to do so. “I didn’t know anyone who played at home, so I taught my sister so she’s the only one who I can play with,” said Rhys. It’s nice to know that when they finally do get to play Magic with a bunch of friends, the environment is still fun and sportsmanlike.
We have several tournaments that are ongoing throughout the session as well, giving even more opportunities to practice their integrity in sports. Currently, there are brackets for basketball, cornhole, chess, magic, dodgeball, and the camper/counselor tennis tournament. Boys have to be honest and have a good attitude when competing in these tournaments - they demonstrate that they follow the rules of the game, show respect to the other team by not being late to their matches, and they have a positive attitude no matter how the results turn out.
Today is another chance to see Moral Compass in action around camp - With Saturday approaching quickly, we’re looking forward to seeing campers continue to model good sportsmanship during the weekend games and tournaments!