Heartbreak or Heroic?

It's no secret that I love my nephews.  And the two that live in my house have staked such a claim on my heart that they have pretty much taken ownership of it.  There isn't anything I wouldn't do for them (unless it's buying endless "bucks" to feed their video game addictions) so when Lucas (9 years old) announced he wanted to try out for the basketball team last fall, all he got was encouragement from this aunt.  No matter he had never played it before and that he doesn't have the best running skills, I was willing to sacrifice my time to sit at games on butt-numbing bleachers :)  just to support him.  And that is just what his mom, his grandparents and myself have been doing this past month.

The only drawback (besides the aforementioned butt-numbing bleachers, of course): they're team isn't great.  They do have a hand full of good players, but the rest seem to be newcomers and/or not entirely athletic.  Lucas himself falls into both of those categories.  The sweetheart has even yet to touch the ball in the game, but he is at least not ducking each time the ball comes towards him.  Progress!

Some may wonder why he wanted to try out for the team or why we encouraged him to do it.  But, you haven't seen his eyes, his determination, his heart.  This year he had come out of his shell and is pushing past "I can't" and pushing to "I could try" or "Why not?"

This past Monday the kids played their hearts out and played a nail-biter.  Yeah, they lost 19-18 and even us in the stands were crushed.  I'm not sure I breathed the entire last quarter.  Even Logan, his brother, was holding his breath at points.  Oh, how they tried.  This was the closest they had come to a win and it ended at the buzzer...in a loss.  But, the sweet little faces of all of the 4th graders that walked off the court were saying "look how close we got!"

Of course, it weighs on them that they haven't won a game yet.  It weighs more on those kids who parents are the ones screaming orders at their kids and saying unkind things on the benches, unfortunately.  Lucas reminds me each game day they haven't won yet.  I always remind him how well he's doing though.  He's gone from a timid, ball-ducking kid, to running back and forth, mostly covering the person he's supposed to be and jumping up with his hands blocking the other team.  In the heartbreaking loss, his nemesis was #21.  That kid was relentless in Lucas's face.  But Lucas handled it so great and let me tell you, #21 wasn't any good to his team that day because Lucas kept him occupied!  ;)

But, instead of showing heartbreak each game, they show heroics.  The sweet little redhead on their team is fierce and always showing the boys she belongs on the court.  Another taller girl made her first basket this past game and was beaming.  They yell "Bulldogs!" to end their huddles like they're going to battle.  And Lucas boldly walks onto the court now, not timidly.  Heroes.  Each one of them.

And for each one of those heroes, I will gladly sit on those horrible bleachers!