Jacob's Basketball Lesson

Jacob played on the 7th grade basketball team this year. Most of the time it was pretty good. But the end of the season was challenging - to say the least. The third game from the end, Jacob did not play in the 2nd half. Granted, he did not have a good first half, so it was kind of expected. The second to last game, Jacob did not play at all in the second half again, although this time he was the ONLY one on the team that did not. Now, I know I am the mother, so I always think my kid id the best. Always will too. But he is definitely in the top 8. No doubt. So when he did not play AT ALL, and the guys who are way worse than him played, I was mad! Grandpa yelled, then I yelled at Grandpa. I texted the guy taking stats to see if he knew WHY? He had no idea and was totally perplexed. Parents in the stands were asking me why. It was all I could do not to break down right there. How dare this guy do this to my kid? Nevermind my own personal pride. Sitting in the stands were his old travel coaches, who were probably gloating that "they knew he wasn't good enough". As we left the gym and my kid was almost in tears, I could not hold it back any longer. We talked the whole ride home. We decided that he would go and talk to the coach the next morning - first thing. As I lumbered through the next day, in constant prayer for Jacob, not knowing when he was talking to the coach, I was super surprised to receive an email from the coach. Apprarently Jacob had talked to him and, supposedly, he simply forgot. Here is his email:

Hi!  I  need to apologize for not playing  Jacob in the 2nd half last night.  It is a total error on my part.  I feel horrible.  I just talked with him and I told him he can play the entire 4th or  5th quarter tomorrow.  I'll let him pick the quarter at halftime.  Again, I'm so sorry! 

Then, following this, and before the team pizza party, the coach apparently apologized to Jacob in front of the team. Fast forward a day to the final game of the season.  The coach kept his word. Jacob played his mandatory 1 quarter in the first half (each boy has to play one full quarter in the first half, then their play in the second half is determined by their play in the first half). Then in the second half, Jacob played the entire rest of the game. He scored 16pts (4 3-pointers, and 2 2-pointers), had 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 1 block. It was an awesome game! And an awesome way to end the season. And, I have to admit, I was kind of tickled that those same coaches that sat in the stands the game before smug as ever, were sitting there with their jaws on the floor. Yeah, it made this momma proud. But....what made me the most proud was that Jacob (finally) stood up for himself and went to bat for himself. That makes him a real winner in my book.