A high school basketball coach is in hot water after his team delivered a 161-2 beatdown.
Sports isn’t about mercy. Unless it’s boxing and the ref calls the fight if that sports still exists. It is, however, about winning. Competing. Handling disappointment. Staying positive when there is no reason to. Like when there really is no reason to like being down 104-1 at halftime on the way to a 161-2 high school girls basketball game blowout epic disaster loss.
More from High School Basketball
- 22-year-old basketball coach ousted for impersonating 13-year-old player
- Watch: One-armed hoops prodigy Hansel Emmanuel wins dunk contest
- Who is Chet Holmgren and why should basketball fans care?
- Adidas collaborates to make sustainable McDonald’s All-American jerseys
- Summer in the City: SLAM Summer Showcase Vol. 1 Recap
I’m sure it was a rough night for Bloomington high school coach Dale Chung who didn’t want sympathy for his only-scored-two-points players . “People shouldn’t feel sorry for my team,” Chung told the Daily Bulletin. “They should feel sorry for his team, which isn’t learning the game the right way.”
Chung is half-right. His players don’t deserve sympathy. They deserve better coaching perhaps. Working on basic drills and fundamentals. Maybe Chung has no talent, although I’d like a shot at coaching his group for a week. Pretty sure I couldn’t do any worse.
He is most definitely wrong thinking the Arroyo Valley players need “sympathy” after their 159 point win. Their head coach Michael Anderson might deserve some sympathy. He was suspended for two games for winning by too big of a margin.
Anderson was suspended despite benching his starters at halftime and having his subs milk the clock. Problem was his subs didn’t miss much when they shot the basketball, one of them making eight of nine threes. That bad Anderson fellow. How dare he let his subs who got to play for an extended period shoot the ball and try to prove they deserve more minutes?!
Anderson did reportedly press for the entire first half which didn’t sit well with Chung. When exactly should Anderson have taken the press off? 20-0, 30-0? How about the concept that you are not playing the scoreboard, but just playing the game? I think we can fairly surmise Anderson wasn’t worried about Bloomington coming back, but rather helping his players get better.
Outraged parents are surely a large part of this raging discussion. They want young Julie and Lisa to feel confident in themselves and losing by 159 could he a tough lesson to teach. But, there is a great lesson in there.
For one, don’t worry about where someone else is, focus on where you are and taking one incremental step forward. Rather than the scoreboard lets focus on dribbling better, passing better, cutting, shooting, etc. Their daughter just got to see one of the best at work and now can perhaps take something from the experience to benefit themselves moving forward.
The world is an incredibly competitive place. And getting more competitive by the day if not the second. The sooner you learn that, the better off you are. Experiences like losing even if it is by an incredible margin, can be a great teacher. So can keeping your focus even when you are winning in life, because we all know how quickly that can change.
There was an opportunity for 20 or so high school kids to learn a valuable lesson. Unfortunately, the opportunity was missed.
More from FanSided
- Joe Burrow owes Justin Herbert a thank you note after new contract
- Chiefs gamble at wide receiver could already be biting them back
- Braves-Red Sox start time: Braves rain delay in Boston on July 25
- Yankees: Aaron Boone gives optimistic return date for Aaron Judge
- MLB Rumors: Yankees-Phillies trade showdown, Mariners swoop, India goes to Seattle