100 – 0: Score One for Responsibility?
When a Texas basketball collided with this American aphorism—It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game—there was an explosion of conflicting opinions about the true meaning of victory and doing the right thing.
The score heard ‘round the world—100 to 0—came to light in January, with the infamous mismatch of two girls’ high school basketball teams in Dallas. The Covenant School—Christian and private—pummeled Dallas Academy, small and private and catering to students with dyslexia, “concentration” problems, and “learning differences.”
The Academy girls haven’t won a game for more than four years, but Covenant’s unrelenting steal-and-layup punishment offered its own lessons.
“My girls never quit,” the Academy’s proud coach told a local newspaper reporter. “They played as hard as they could to the end.”
His words were a layup to readers’ hearts. Soon another aphorism—Everyone loves a winner—was being turned upside down.
In a rapid cascade of events, Covenant’s headmaster posted an unprecedented apology on the school’s website, calling his team’s winning performance “shameful” and “a victory without honor” which “does not reflect a Christ-like” approach to competition. Announcing it was forfeiting the game, Covenant praised losing Dallas Academy for their “strength, composure and fortitude in a game in which they clearly emerged the winner.”
Covenant’s coach disagreed with the headmaster’s mea culpa. “We played the game as it was meant to be played,” he wrote to a newspaper, and refused “to apologize for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity.” Hours later he was fired.
“Our national ethics lesson,” one reporter dubbed the incident which left many divided over who did or didn’t do the right thing. Dallas Academy knew the rules going in, some said, and if it couldn’t stand the heat, it shouldn’t have played the game. Others lamented the loss of sportsmanship. Some felt that the school’s apology and the coach’s firing were unnecessary, while others said winning doesn’t matter and the schools shouldn’t have kept score.
Tell us what you think: Who bears what responsibility in this case—the Covenant coach, the Covenant team, the Dallas Academy team? Who won, who lost? Is it really true that winning doesn’t matter?
For information about creating positive sports experiences for kids, log on to ResponsibleSports.com. Sponsored by Liberty Mutual, the site offers parents and coaches tips, tools, and advice designed to help maximize their kids’ youth sports experience. Parents can also take part in online discussions, asking questions and sharing experiences about how best to help kids apply the life lessons of sports—on and off the field. Because, as The Home Run reminds us, there’s more to the game than winning.
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High School Teacher and retired girl`s coach
I coached girl’s basketball at this private American School in Brazil for a number of years. A few years ago my girl’s played a very weak girl’s team. Shortly after the game began I had all of my bench in the game, as a coach it’s difficult to tell your reserves not to score, nevertheless you can quietly allow the other team to have some open shots and at least score. We won the game 64-2, but no one felt as if they had been humiliated. Obviously if the coach continued to press and keep starters in, then in my opinion he should’ve been fired. A coach simply has to use common sense, but you can’t tell basketball players who rarely play not to score.
Tom Crandall | 1 year ago
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It is one thing to coach kids well, and have them respond well to coaching, but sportsmanship is a big part of the game. The coaches for both schools knew what they were getting into. Covenant knew they were the better team and they knew they would win. I don’t think any player enjoys beating an opponent the way convenient did. It was a unfortunate game, but where were the referees? I coach girls basketball and when the game starts to get lopsided, the refs remind the coaches of a little humility.
James | 1 year ago
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Does it Really Matter
Does it really matter. I mean as long as the kids had fun out there right? There is no rule saying you can’t score as many points you can in a game, right? So what’s the big fuss. I mean the Coach should have apologized for beating them that bad, but come on not all people are sports people. So I really don’t think the Coach should be punished.,
james | 1 year ago
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Business Owner
For the last couple of decades we’ve heard the shrill cries of, equal rights for all including the handicapped. Here is another example of the misunderstanding of equal rights and opportunities. The coaches and players of neither team are guilty of any wrong doing and certainly no one should have been fired. This is another tragic example of political correctness and where it is leading, a world where nobody can do or say anything because it might offend someone, somewhere,somehow. Yet another sad social commentary on a culture that is out of touch with common sense.
Steve H. | 1 year ago
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Missing the point
I think people are missing the point here: the decision on who was in the right and who was in the wrong does NOT boiling down to, who won, who loss, the margin of victory, the score, or the physical/mental capabilities of both teams; rather, the attitudes of the coaches, and the headmaster. At the end of the day, no one is going to care who won or lost. They are going to remember the situation and the reactions of the coaches and the headmaster.
In my opinion, the coach of the Christian school had the wrong attitude and therefore acted wrongly. If he was representing a Christian school, his focus should not be on glorifying himself, his team, or anyone’s abilities (or lack thereof). Instead, he was focused on winning the game, and getting glory for an enormous victory. This is a wrong attitude. Also, the coach of the losing team had a wrong attitude as well. There is something to be said for wanting to win. But his focus, apparently, is not on winning, but on helping his team. Now, I do not know all the facts but to me, it sounds like he is not putting his focus on winning but on the kids. I’m not saying that all the focus should be on winning, but as I said earlier, there should be a balance between wanting to win and wanting to have fun – especially in high school sports.
The Headmaster’s apology, in my opinion, is very representative of the Christian lifestyle their school claims to represent. His apology was not focused on belittling the coach or the other team, but rather the image his school was projecting through their attitudes. If you read the article, his apology says their win “does not reflect a Christ-like attitude.”
This is the point of where right and wrong lie.
Will S. | 1 year ago
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Interestingly, the only noted Dallas Academy comment is from the coach. He is praising his team for their efforts. Students with the listed challenges normally attend regular schools / classes. If interested in a subject, they can perform as well as anyone. I am sure they are proud that the world now views them as handicapped. One of the toughest lessons to learn as a child is that “life is not fair.” I don’t believe they learned it from losing 100-0, they learned it from watching the other team get berated for winning, learning that the headmaster forfeited the game, and then victorious coach gets fired, all for doing a great job, winning a game. After all, isn’t that what you play for? I bet they wanted to win – fair and square!
Anita H. | 1 year ago
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As a 35 year youth basketball coach I find it deplorable that a coach would have his team run up the score like that. There are a number of things a coach can do to show good sportsmanship. How about telling your team no more fast breaks, instruct them to pull the ball back out and run their offense. A second thing that can be done is that you require the team to have everyone touch the ball before a shot goes up that includes rebounding your own team miss. I have heard the argument a thousand times that you can’t call them off when they are playing great defense and are destroying teams. I remind them that if they can’t then maybe you’re not coaching them.
Joseph Grant | 1 year ago
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These two teams obviously shouldn’t be playing each other. Shame on whoever scheduled the game. It puts both teams, coaches and players in an awkward situation.
Karen | 1 year ago
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let,s move up
Very interesting and satisfactory.
hussaini | 1 year ago
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basketball
good game
james morrett | 12 months ago
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