When Your Team is Shooting 50% from the FREE THROW Line

The CBC Mustangs are 1-4 after last night.  Not a good way to start.  It hurts my pride to even type that record.  I expected us to be at least 2-3 at this point in the schedule.  But, things happen.

It's hard being a coach's wife.  I've heard that the hardest jobs are being a pastor(or minister's) wife and a coach's wife.  When you're winning life is great.  When you're losing, you can lose touch with reality very quickly and feel like everything is going wrong.

The baby and the dog slept great last night.  The adults, not so much.  Anger, frustration, confusion, bewilderment crowd your mind leaving you unable to relax.  As the wife, I really do feel the same emotions as Josh -- in times of victory and defeat. 

The team is like our family.  Josh spends the majority of his time with them.  Coaching, teaching, encouraging, correcting, and being a Christ like example.  I know so much about each player.  More than I care to in some cases.  I don't really feel motherly to them -- I'm not old enough for that-- but I do feel very protective.  I cheer them on, feed them, and pray for them. 

This morning, when the alarm went off, I was stilled pissed.  I mean, our free throw shooting has been bad this season, but last night was awful.  Ya'll we had a player AIR BALL a FREE THROW.  That is unacceptable.  Unacceptable.  This is college.

I try not to blame officials.  We lost the game, not them.  But, I would like to point out that we had 5 players foul out.  That is not normal.

Ok, back to this morning.  I was mad at the players, not knowing what to say or how to approach Josh, and my mind was going 100 miles an hour.  Here are some of my thoughts:

Not everyone can win.  Please teach your children this.  We live in a "everyone's a winner" society, but in fact, everyone will experience defeat at some point in their life.  Teach children to be gracious winners and losers, they will in turn be more prepared for the real world. 

Think about it, we have all lost.  Maybe you never won a relay, didn't make the cheer squad, lost a crush to your best friend, were the last out, missed a big shot, didn't land your dream job, or even lost your job.  You can't win them all.

Losing doesn't make you a loser.  Just because you can't always win doesn't mean you should settle for losing or enjoy it in any way.  I believe you should always strive for excellence.  How you lose is more important than why you lose.  What do you learn from those experiences?  How do you improve?

People's choices make them losers, their attitudes, not coming in second place.  Wanting and loving to win is good.  Working and trying to be on top is what we should do in every aspect of life.  We should always work on and improve our relationship with God, not settling for just saying a prayer and being baptized.  Our work ethic will reflect a winner or loser, not the scoreboard.


Mental and physical toughness.  Succeeding on the basketball court requires physical and mental abilities.  Free throws are mental. No one is guarding you, no one blocking your shot or in your way, except your mind.  If our team was mentally tough last night, we would have avoided overtime all together.  One mustang missed 9 free throws, he alone could have won the game.  How do you teach mental toughness?  Can you?

We still give Him glory.  Josh prays with the team before and after every practice and game.  He is teaching them that God is still in control and is still worthy of praise even when we lose.  I tell God that before and after every game.  I pray for wins.  But, I give God praise and ask that His name be glorified whether we when or lose.

This should apply to everyone's life.  God, I'm still going to praise you if things don't turn out how I planned, when I'm hurting, when I feel lonely, when I feel attacked -- You, Lord are in control.  Sometimes, it is just a game.  Maybe there is a spiritual victory that we can't see that happened instead.  Perhaps a lesson learned the hard way.


Goodness gracious I've rambled.  You may disagree with something I've said, or think I'm crazy.  I am a little crazy.  It's basketball season.  But, this should give you a little glimpse into what a coach's wife struggles with, especially a Christian woman who is very competitive.  I'm ready to post about our next WIN!  Let it be soon, Lord!