On Being a Team Player within the Body of Christ

On Being a Team Player within the Body of Christ

Recently, my son, the resident athlete and basketball expert in our family, finished his season on the freshmen basketball team at his all boys parochial school.  His team managed to squeak out a winning season with an overall record of fourteen wins and eights losses (14-8) with an even league record of eight victories and eight defeats.  They progressed to the second round of the playoffs where they replayed a team to whom my son’s team previously suffered a disastrous loss by forty-five points.  It was very painful to travel to the Bronx New York in the midst of a Friday afternoon rush hour to watch such a royal shellacking.  Yet, my son’s team began the fourth quarter of the playoff game with only a deficit of nine points.  Had they had a better and more insightful and caring coach, they would have been able to adjust their game plan to grab a win and advance to the semi-final games. 

Nevertheless, my son maintained a very positive attitude as a member of his freshmen team although he was given extremely little playing time.  As his father, I maintained a silent poker face throughout the season though I was absolutely furious about the coach’s indifference to my son.  He is a good defensive player who aspires to coach basketball as his profession.  My son’s passion for the game of basketball is indescribable as he has learned the history of the game and can recite contemporary players and team statistics with ease and finesse.  Parenthetically, I wish his passion would extend to all of his academic subjects.  Nonetheless, his passion, knowledge and willingness to develop defense strategies made him an asset to his team.  Most regrettably, the coach for his freshmen seemed totally uninterested in developing my son or any other members of the team even the seven players he favored regularly.  Of the sixteen team players, nine of them spent most of the season on the bench.  As a consequence, they functioned as a practice squad for the other seven players.  We parents of the bench players attended as many games as the parents of the seven students who played regularly.  We face the same challenges of adjusting our schedules and managing competing priorities as any other parents.  Even in the foregoing game in which the team lost by forty-five points, we still has to wait until the last two minutes of the game in order to see our children enter the game.  Remarkably, in a holiday tournament game in which my son’s team won a game by seventy points, he and the other bench players did not enter the game until the final few minutes! 

Despite this disrespectful and offensive treatment by his coach, my son maintained a very positive outlook throughout his season.  I marvel still when I recall how my son faithfully characterized his opinions of game with “We” instead of “I” when he critiqued wins and losses.  When discussing mistakes, he always personalized the need for improvement.  He did not say “They” when assessing a mistake.  He always thought about what he needed to adjust in order to strengthen his skills.  Further, my son did not harbor any resentment toward the coach or the seven players who received partial treatment.  Though the coach rightly deserved my son’s disdain, he did not receive it publicly or privately.  My son never despised the man in my presence or anyone else’s.  As it relates to his team members, my son was not jealous of them.  He concentrated on his skills and sought to earn more playing team.  My son was magnanimous enough to compliment his teammates and cheer for them in very tight games.  He even overlooked the coach’s blatant incapacities and character defects among them being his primary refusal to establish any meaningful relationships with team members beyond the court.  Additionally, my son diplomatically handled an arrogant but weak and indecisive teammate who over-thought his position and thus consistently turned over the ball and missed important rebounds.  My son’s generosity and graciousness offer important lessons for me to emulate.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul parallels the parts of the human body with Christian fellowship.  Parts of human anatomy are dependent upon each other in order for a body to function healthily. The eyes cannot say to the knees, “I have no need of you.”  Although very prominently visible, the face, chest, buttocks and legs cannot denigrate the hidden internal organs which maintain viability.  As I reflect upon my son’s sportsmanship and generosity of attitude and character, I apply this biblical lesson to daily living.  Each member of a church would strengthen his or her congregation by following my son’s example. Successful athletic teams usually include team players who balance self-confidence with appropriate humility and willingness to subordinate personal achievements and records in order to win collectively.  “Trigger happy” basketball players who relentlessly but erroneously pursue the elusive “three-point” shot often turn the ball over to their opponents who usually capitalize upon those failed shots.  Actually, my son’s team suffered two of their seven losses because of a “trigger happy” forward who imagined the cacophonous glory and celebration of a dramatic “buzzer beating” shot.  Had he simply passed the ball for an obligatory lay-up shot, the team would have won.  In church settings, disciples with tunnel vision restricted to their self-centered motives and self-aggrandizing purposes often inhibit progress in congregational ministry.  Many times, latent jealousy explains their unwillingness to collaborate effectively with their brothers and sisters.  Practically speaking, perhaps members of church families could contribute most helpfully by being good team members who cheer for their brothers and sisters, seek ways for them to develop and maximize their potential, forsake personal arrogance and extend grace and generosity.