A Special Team by Coach L

I adopted b-ball Ed's rule. Late for practice, run five laps. Jenna had been sick the two previous practices. On this Sat. morning, I knew she wouldn't be there again because another mom had told me that she had a high temperature on Friday. Jenna is a good athlete with a fantastic attitude! She LOVES basketball and she LOVES practice. About 30 minutes into practice, in walks Jenna and mom. The girls were on the baseline getting ready for a drill (obediently holding their bball's while listening). We were all shocked! I looked at mom. She shrugged, "She wouldn't stay home from another practice. I called the doctor and he gave her permission to come, even though she is not 100%, so here we are. The doctor's office took a long time to call back, so that's why we are late." So, I turn back to the team, patiently taking it all in on the baseline. I'm thinking, "I either need to send this little girl home, or make her run five laps!" Instead, I decided to get permission from the team to excuse Jenna from the hard-and-fast rule just this time.

My speech starts like this. "Girls, Jenna is late for practice, and you know the rule..."

That's as far as I got. One of the girl's hands shoots up and at the same time she blurts out these words, "I'll run for Jenna!!" Without waiting for my approval, she drops her basketball and takes off at full speed.

In unison, and without another word spoken, seven more basketballs hit the gym floor and eight little girls are running. Five laps, full speed for their teammate.     

Thank God for kids.