The obvious goal for a swimming and diving team is to get the fastest times and highest scores possible. However, in the context of all this, lessons on the value of sportsmanship and servant leadership are of at least equal importance. Today, I received two great pieces of recognition of our efforts in these areas...
As Theresa Asselin mentioned at our post-Conference gathering, the human tunnel we made for Holland as they went out to accept their first-place trophy was a cool, classy sight to behold and drew comments from parents up in the stands. To one parent from another team, it was so moving that she wrote the following in an email that got passed along to Dave Engbers, our AD:
"As the meet ended Saturday and All Conference girls were announced, I
was keeping me eyes on girls on deck. I enjoy watching kids and their
reactions! :) I was in awe when the Holland Christian girls made a
tunnel for the Holland girls to go through as they made their way to
accept the Conference trophy. It actually brought tears to my eyes to
see this kind of sportsmanship on the pool deck-something I don't see
often in my travels. I hope you can pass this on and that these girls
and their kind gesture are recognized. What an amazing statement this
makes about the girls, their coaches and their swim program! I wish I
saw this more often-it was something!"
And later... "They did a fabulous job running the meet!"
For me as a coach, the neatest part is that this didn't happen because anyone was told to do so; it happened naturally and displays the type of attitude and sportsmanship our team embodies as a whole. We certainly don't do those things for the attention, but it is nice to get such an affirmation and needed to be shared!
In other news, today I received a letter from Compassionate Heart Ministries thanking us for the time we spent serving there and the donation (our Dux for Bux money) that we gave to them.
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