Great Act of Sportsmanship

Amid the grieving, a rare act of sportsmanship

This is the ultimate act of sportsmanship. This article deals with two high school basketball teams that were facing each other for the third time. The game was almost never played. Hours before the game something terrible happened. Johntel Franklin’s mother died. Franklin was a player on one of the teams. His coach wanted to cancel the game, but Franklin would not let him. The game started a couple of hours late. In the second quarter Franklin showed up at the game, he came from the hospital. His coach called a time out so his team mates could give Franklin a hug. When Franklin was asked if he wanted to sit on the bench, he replied that he wanted to play. His coach knew what would happen; he would receive a technical foul when Franklin entered the game, because he was not on the roster. His coach was fine with that; he would give up two points to let Franklin play, even though it was a close game. The opposing coach, who was trying to support Franklin, tried to reject the technical, saying he did not want to shoot the two free throws. The referees made them shoot the two free throws. In the greatest act of sportsmanship, the captain of the opposing team volunteered to shoot the free throws, and he knew what he had to do. He stepped up to the line and received the ball. Then he shot it, but the ball only went two feet and fell and rolled on the ground. The same happened with the second shot. This opposing team and player showed great support to a person they didn’t even know. I greatly respect their great decision.

I think its pretty sweet that the opposing team supported him. It's hard to believe that he would still want to play after a loss like that. I know if I were ever in a situation like that it would mean a lot if my opponent showed me that much respect. I think a lot of coaches and players these days don't do this kind of thing very often, they play the game to win rather then to have fun. The team captain stepping up and missing the shots on purpose tells you a lot about his character.

This article tells people that there are great people in the world. They showed love and care for a person that they did not even know; shows great sportsmanship. They did not even try to make the two free throw was the best thing that they can do for the young man. On the other hand, people lost their mother as well; the other team knew that it was a hard time for the man. I understand why Franklin wanted to play the game. It was something that his mother wanted him to do and he did not wanted to let her down.

This was a remarkable story. I saw it briefly on the news, but didn't get a chance to really find out all the details. It was nice to read about great sportsmanship and the fact that the other team also felt sad for their opposing teammate that winning was no longer a priority. That doesn't happen that often anymore. I defintely give that young man a lot of credit to be able to go out and play after experiencing such a loss. I know people probably don't understand how he was able to do it, but he was in shock I am sure and just needed time to have a break from all that just occurred, even for a few hours. Not that he wasn't thinking about his mother or sad about what happened, just needed that time. It was also nice to see how many people came to show their support at the funeral too. He is going to need all his friends to help him get through this rough road ahead of him.