Team Spirit: ‘Kids Who Were Left’
By Jill D. Montgomery

Our local basketball team this year suffered the loss of three players right in the middle of an already 50/50 season. As happens every few years, either in our school or in one of the ones nearby, a few players broke their contracts and were forced into early retirement.

I could write this entire story about how the team was affected by losing its top scorer. Or I could write about the loss of much-needed speed by one player or even about how the team’s flow was interrupted by the loss. But I won’t.

Because the real story in this case is what happened afterwards. The real story is about how nine and a half players, (one boy plays both J.V. and varsity) pulled together and became a real team.

The kids who were left were not headed to any college to play basketball for four more years. The kids who were left were not attracting outside scouts or media attention and the names were not on the lips of many as the next great players to watch.

What the kids were, who were left, was determined. These kids were all hard workers who now worked even harder. They were undaunted by the loss and they took what could have been a real downer and turned it into a challenge to be better. They were determined not to just kiss the rest of the season goodbye.

Whether they were starters, the first man off the bench, or players who saw limited time, they all pulled together and became a great team. The kids who were left were not superstars, but they were determined to give the rest of the season their best.

And that they did, right along with their coach. This coach has been leading boys’ basketball for over 30 years and he was no more ready to give up than the boys were. In fact his words to the team in a meeting the day after was, "Well, are we going to quit or go out there and try our hardest?" And they did try their hardest.

If this was the story line for a movie, these boys would have gone on to win not just the next game but every other game for the rest of the season. The grand finale would be a trip to the Barre Aud which ended with them cutting down the nets and we all would have gone skipping off into the sunset!

But because this is real life, the boys only won one more game the rest of the season. But all of the games were close, or so they seemed. They were easy games for all of us to cheer at. There were no hotdogs on the team, just high school kids reminding us of what high school basketball is supposed to be. They made mistakes, turned the ball over and missed shots that might have won the game. But as fans, we didn’t notice. Or if we noticed, we didn’t care, because these boys were playing their hardest, and they gave us all back the love of the game.

So this year during basketball season, many lessons were learned. Don’t break your training rules, don’t be a bonehead, but most especially, don’t give up.

And even though the season ended without any fanfare after just one game in the playoffs, personally I did a little skipping of my own out in the parking lot in honor of a great bunch of kids.

Jill D. Montgomery has covered boys’ and girls’ basketball for many years and is quite proud to be a parent of one of those nine and a half determined boys left on the team.