We just came back from an amazing basketball tournament in which Jayci and her team from Ras Tanura competed for the Kingdom wide "National Championship". This is the closest thing we have to March Madness over here. This band of over achieving girls already took the national championship in Volleyball and were gunning for another banner in basketball.
It was a two day event that required them to play 6 games. Long story short, they won their first five (two of which were against high school teams) which propelled them into the championship game against Dharhan. RT had already beaten them twice, and now faced them for a third time.
This final game will forever be special and very memorable, but not for the reason you might be thinking. Rather than me recount it, I'd like to share an e-mail our family received from a parent in the crowd (from the other team).
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Folks,
I attended the SAIK Girls Basketball Tournament in Riyadh this last weekend and saw something sports purists almost never get the chance to see these days. I wish I had video evidence, but, hopefully, you’ll accept a first-hand eye-witness account, and proceed accordingly from there.
(In the interest of not continuing to misspell Ms Haynie/Haylie’s name, I’ll just call her Ms H.)
It was down to about the last two minutes of the girls SAIK basketball championship game between Dhahran (DH) Middle School, in White, and Ras Tanura (RT) Middle School, in Blue, and the game was tied. Both teams had met before. Both teams felt the pressure. Both teams knew what was on the line – championship bragging rights for a whole year, not just in all Aramco, but in the whole of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
On a fast-break play by DH, a DH player passed the ball to another DH player down court.
RT team-leader Ms H. was rushing down court as well in an attempt to disrupt the fast-break play.
The DH pass sailed out of bounds underneath the White (DH) basket.
The referee called the ball and indicated the direction of throw-in.
Ms H. calmly and quietly informed the referee he made the wrong call, and quietly insisted the ball should go the other way.
It would have been perfectly acceptable to let the ref make the call and continue to play, since we all teach players to accept the call, even the “bad ones”, that those are the breaks of the game, to forget the call and continue to play. Yet Ms. H insisted, very calmly and quietly, with the referee that he was wrong and to reverse the call. Almost nobody heard her speak. I heard her voice but could not hear her words; but I saw what occurred prior to the call, and I saw her body language as she ever-so-softly contested the call.
Ms H. insisted the referee reverse the call, originally in favor of Blue (RT), to go the other way, that the ball should go instead to the White (DH) team. You see, what the referee and many players missed, but not Ms. H, and not this eye-witness, was that Ms. H ever-so-slightly deflected the pass prior to it going out. In short, we’d say “the ball was out, on her.”
You might stop here and think, “now that was good of her, she’s a sweetheart, she just didn’t know.”
I would state you are wrong to think that. Why?
I fully believe Ms. H knew the consequences of her actions: the White team would receive the inbound pass under their own basket, and very likely be able to break the tie in their favor in the final two minutes of a championship game. Why do I believe this, that Ms. H knew the consequences of her actions?
Because of her composure during the whole game, because of her composure after the call was reversed, and because of her composure after DH/White did, in fact, inbound the pass, make the tie-breaking shot, and two-minutes later win the game. Her composure was calm, yet determined. She cared, very much so, about winning, but I think she cared more about winning true than winning cheap.
How can I express in words the simplest, truest form of pure sportswomanship-in-action, especially in today’s world of self-serving sports persona, and the uber-competitiveness that pushes most to take advantage of every mistake, even a referee’s bad call?
We as parents and educators try to teach “Be fair. Be polite. Don’t show off.” Even kids who have the best manners at the dinner table might forget these rules of good sportsmanship in the heat of a championship game.
Ms H’ deserves special recognition, a) for herself, and although I bet she might be a little embarrassed by it, I think she’d accept the responsibility of being awarded such recognition in order to b) serve as a role model for others, if this was explained to her. But I think she’d already know this without it needing to be explained. She was already a team leader before this, so I’m sure she’ll continue that role in other endeavors as well.
If the Aramco school system already has a category to award any kind of recognition to a student who exhibits the epitome of good sportsmanship & fair-play, then I nominate Ms. H for her exemplary leadership and sense of honor during the 2012 SAIK Girls Basketball Tournament championship game.
If the Aramco school system doesn’t already have such a category to award, then it should create one, and perhaps consider naming the award in Ms H’s honor: the Name I. (middle initial) Haynie award, not to be awarded annually, but only to be awarded when similar situations of selfless good sportsmanship occur… “for demonstrated superior qualities of sportsmanship, leadership, a commitment to teamwork and a desire to excel in the highest and most honorable of traditions.”…etc.
At the very least, get the story in the Aramco Sun.
I hope this message is enough to get the “ball headed in the right direction.”
Regards,
James
I attended the SAIK Girls Basketball Tournament in Riyadh this last weekend and saw something sports purists almost never get the chance to see these days. I wish I had video evidence, but, hopefully, you’ll accept a first-hand eye-witness account, and proceed accordingly from there.
(In the interest of not continuing to misspell Ms Haynie/Haylie’s name, I’ll just call her Ms H.)
It was down to about the last two minutes of the girls SAIK basketball championship game between Dhahran (DH) Middle School, in White, and Ras Tanura (RT) Middle School, in Blue, and the game was tied. Both teams had met before. Both teams felt the pressure. Both teams knew what was on the line – championship bragging rights for a whole year, not just in all Aramco, but in the whole of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
On a fast-break play by DH, a DH player passed the ball to another DH player down court.
RT team-leader Ms H. was rushing down court as well in an attempt to disrupt the fast-break play.
The DH pass sailed out of bounds underneath the White (DH) basket.
The referee called the ball and indicated the direction of throw-in.
Ms H. calmly and quietly informed the referee he made the wrong call, and quietly insisted the ball should go the other way.
It would have been perfectly acceptable to let the ref make the call and continue to play, since we all teach players to accept the call, even the “bad ones”, that those are the breaks of the game, to forget the call and continue to play. Yet Ms. H insisted, very calmly and quietly, with the referee that he was wrong and to reverse the call. Almost nobody heard her speak. I heard her voice but could not hear her words; but I saw what occurred prior to the call, and I saw her body language as she ever-so-softly contested the call.
Ms H. insisted the referee reverse the call, originally in favor of Blue (RT), to go the other way, that the ball should go instead to the White (DH) team. You see, what the referee and many players missed, but not Ms. H, and not this eye-witness, was that Ms. H ever-so-slightly deflected the pass prior to it going out. In short, we’d say “the ball was out, on her.”
You might stop here and think, “now that was good of her, she’s a sweetheart, she just didn’t know.”
I would state you are wrong to think that. Why?
I fully believe Ms. H knew the consequences of her actions: the White team would receive the inbound pass under their own basket, and very likely be able to break the tie in their favor in the final two minutes of a championship game. Why do I believe this, that Ms. H knew the consequences of her actions?
Because of her composure during the whole game, because of her composure after the call was reversed, and because of her composure after DH/White did, in fact, inbound the pass, make the tie-breaking shot, and two-minutes later win the game. Her composure was calm, yet determined. She cared, very much so, about winning, but I think she cared more about winning true than winning cheap.
How can I express in words the simplest, truest form of pure sportswomanship-in-action, especially in today’s world of self-serving sports persona, and the uber-competitiveness that pushes most to take advantage of every mistake, even a referee’s bad call?
We as parents and educators try to teach “Be fair. Be polite. Don’t show off.” Even kids who have the best manners at the dinner table might forget these rules of good sportsmanship in the heat of a championship game.
Ms H’ deserves special recognition, a) for herself, and although I bet she might be a little embarrassed by it, I think she’d accept the responsibility of being awarded such recognition in order to b) serve as a role model for others, if this was explained to her. But I think she’d already know this without it needing to be explained. She was already a team leader before this, so I’m sure she’ll continue that role in other endeavors as well.
If the Aramco school system already has a category to award any kind of recognition to a student who exhibits the epitome of good sportsmanship & fair-play, then I nominate Ms. H for her exemplary leadership and sense of honor during the 2012 SAIK Girls Basketball Tournament championship game.
If the Aramco school system doesn’t already have such a category to award, then it should create one, and perhaps consider naming the award in Ms H’s honor: the Name I. (middle initial) Haynie award, not to be awarded annually, but only to be awarded when similar situations of selfless good sportsmanship occur… “for demonstrated superior qualities of sportsmanship, leadership, a commitment to teamwork and a desire to excel in the highest and most honorable of traditions.”…etc.
At the very least, get the story in the Aramco Sun.
I hope this message is enough to get the “ball headed in the right direction.”
Regards,
James
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Thanks Jayci for showing what true champions are made of!
