In April, I introduced you to Mother Teresa and the Basketball Coach and the way that each of them told us to make an impact on our world by doing small things with great love.  This weekend marked the final tournament of the season for the basketball girls who only two months ago were working at becoming a team.  They’ve practiced, they’ve learned, they’ve played in gyms that could double as saunas.  They have let their passion for the game of basketball unite them, and they finished their season as a team.  It is a beautiful thing, and this fan will miss watching the girls bring their individual talents to the court and connect them in a way that has brought them success.

I would be using that word — success — whether the team had won a single game or not, because the beautiful thing has been watching our children learn that basketball is another place in their world where doing small things with great love can make a difference.  Many coaches give the pep-talk, “There is no ‘i’ in ‘team.’ ”  One of the things their coach has remarked about throughout the season is how selfless these girls are, and it shows off the court as well as in the midst of a game.  I’ve watched them congratulate one another on good plays.  I’ve seen the way that each girl who is substituted out of a game walks down the row on the bench and receives a high-five from each of her teammates.  I’ve watched them persevere as individuals and then bring that tenacity to the group.  I’ve watched them lose games and then pick themselves up, regroup, and enter the next contest with renewed enthusiasm.

Not all of life is filled with fairy-tale endings.  Many times we do our best and still fail to win at the contests life brings us.  What does the coach tell us?  ”Do your best.  If you don’t succeed, forgive yourself.  Never give up.”  I’m here today to tell you the fairy-tale ending of our team’s season, and I hope that the girls who made it happen will take the memory of their last tournament with them to the next challenge that lies ahead of them.  After perseverance, forgiveness, and tenacity; after encouraging one another through many contests where the losses outnumbered the wins; after doing small things with great love; it all came together this weekend.  Our girls finished their season by winning four games out of five in two days of strenuous competition.  They play because they love the game, but finishing on top is always sweet.  They will be forever united by their shared experience, and I hope they will take the lessons they have learned as part of this team and apply them to their lives as they mature and choose their life’s work.

“Do your best.  If you don’t succeed, forgive yourself.  Never give up.”

Win or lose, it’s the recipe for success.