Inbound the ball...

Last June, I went to camp with a bunch of the teens from our church youth group.  If you ever want to be completely exhausted for 5 straight days and still have an absolute blast, then I highly recommend doing this.  We had a great time and several teens made decisions that will last a lifetime.  

Each year the camp has a basketball game between the teen boys and the male counselors. I am not the best basketball player, but I can shoot the rock with the best 3 year in the country (that may have been a little bold - let's make that 2 year old).  I stood on the sidelines and cheered our team on, not really expecting to play or be involved at all.  I love to win, but I also know my limitations.

As the game progressed, I was told to get in and play. I subbed in and basically acted as a body on the court, since everyone out there was more talented than I was and they were doing this crazy thing back and forth on the court - they used the term "running." I have googled it and I do not like the concept.

I did get a couple of rebounds and focused on defense (think about the running thing again). At one point the counselors scored and in a moment of confusion, I stepped out of bounds with the ball to inbound it to the…uh, teens.  This is not the correct format in basketball. If you score, then you run down the court to play defense, not inbound the ball to the other team. People laughed, yelled and my coach just shook his head. After I stepped out of bounds and realized all my team had gone to the other end, I simply passed the ball into a teen, but was extraordinarily embarrassed and subbed myself out with no plan to get back in the game. 

Quite a while later, they asked me to go back in and I declined. They asked me twice more (all the counselors were exhausted, I guess), so I finally went back in.  I decided that I would forget the past and do my best, so I went out and hustled on defense (I actually did that running thing) and one time the ball got passed to me as I posted up down low. I dribbled and backed up my defender towards the goal and sent a beautiful hook shot into the air, and…nothing but net! Sweet! I was back in the good graces of the team.  of course, I quickly subbed out to ensure I didn't blow my new claim to fame.  So glad for second chances.

Lessons Learned: Never give up, when you fail…success could be around the corner. Quitting in the middle of something, is almost never the answer.

Thoughts: Have you ever given up in the middle of a fail? Or have you waited for success in the next endeavor?