Thursday, May 01, 2008

It's Not About Winning Or Losing

In today's world of competition and gamesmanship oftentimes the value of sportsmanship gets lost. Today I was sent a story by a coworker that I just have to share.

Sara Tucholsky was at the plate during in a bid for NCAA Division II playoff spot. She was a career .153 hitter. As you can imagine this at-bat was to become a pivotal moment to this story. She went on to slam her first career homerun.

The exuberant former high school point guard sprinted to first. As she reached the bag, she looked up to watch the ball clear the fence and missed first base. Six feet past the bag, she stopped abruptly to return and touch it. But something gave in her right knee; she collapsed on the base path.

"I was in a lot of pain," she told The Oregonian on Tuesday. "Our first-base coach was telling me I had to crawl back to first base. 'I can't touch you,' she said, 'or you'll be out. I can't help you.' "

Tucholsky, to the horror of teammates and spectators, crawled through the dirt and the pain back to first.

...

"The umpires said a player cannot be assisted by their team around the bases," Knox said. "But it is her only home run in four years. She is going to kill me if we sub and take it away. But at same time I was concerned for her. I didn't know what to do. . . .

"That is when Mallory stepped in."

...

(She) volunteered a simple, selfless solution to her opponents' dilemma: What if the Central Washington players carried Tucholsky around the bases?

So that is what they did. Sportsmanship, Character and Leadership at its very best.

Pic & Story Link: Oregonian- Blake Wolf:

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