educate
+
S.A.T. (Student Awareness Tools
®
)
66
maskmatters.org
FALL 2017
Teens share personal stories of how
sportsmanship has impacted their lives
Personal Stories
LIFE LESSONS
//
I
was never meant to be an athlete. Standing at maybe 4
feet tall as a child, having bad lungs thanks to asthma,
and being unable to gain any type of healthy weight, I
was always tiny. However, for as long as I can remember,
I have always loved to run.
Growing up in sunny southern California, where summer
is practically a year-round occurrence, my sister and I would
spend endless hours at the local park just running. Good
sportsmanship came as naturally to me as putting one foot in
front of the other. I knew no matter win or lose, it was how
one responded to the situation that made them a good athlete.
I treated my teammates with love and my opponents not as
rivals, but as friends. But to my younger, innocent self ’s horror,
I learned not everyone did the same.
Where I grew up in Irvine, California, my basketball
team would practice once a week in a gym owned and run by
the local Chinese Cultural Center.There, I was exposed to a
diverse group of people, religions and schools.
I was the only Caucasian girl on the team—perhaps in the
whole league—and it was in the fifth grade that I began to
see its effect. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t the fastest
girl in the room and had nowhere near the level of aggression
on the court. Other teams began to exploit our good
sportsmanship.They made fun of our religious background
and took advantage of the kindness our team demonstrated.
However, instead of running from adversity I took it with
a new stride.
With every hard loss, every unfair penalty called our way,
my coach would always come out of a game smiling and end
with a Biblical devotional. He would tell us to never turn to
anger. Yes, we were always the underdog and, yes, we would go
seasons without a single win. But we had something better: we
had kindness. Despite all the anger and confusion, we didn’t
cower at our adversity, we ran towards the challenge.
In my opinion, sports teaches you lessons unparalleled
to anything you can learn in a classroom. It teaches you
persistence and perseverance, humility and teamwork.
The losing streak that would last years taught me more
humility and strength than winning ever could. It would be
easy to be discouraged and give up, but every year I found
myself right back on that court ready to run—and that is the
value of sportsmanship.
– Ellie Wendt
