People watch sports for a number of reasons: excitement, suspense, competition and any other word you feel describes your passion for sports. My guess would be victory is the reason we watch sports. That’s why there is a record, a scoreboard, a winner and a loser. Victory is a goal, a foundation on which you lay your thoughts, feelings, personal ambition and beliefs.
You may be asking, “Where is he going with this?” Well, I’m taking the goal of victory to a different level, to a step above the game where not everything is about the results on the scoreboard, but rather the ones on and off the field.
Take Harding teams for example; their victories are in Christ well before each game. The Bison football team prays before, during and after their games no matter the score or whether it’s followed by a victory or a defeat.
Sports are not just to show off whatever athletic ability you may or may not have, it creates something unique within a group of individuals that lasts forever. Athletes are people the community looks to for not only their performances on the field, but as role models off it.
Working with the football staff the last three years, I have come to realize the message coach Huckabe is trying to tell his players. He wants his players to be gentlemen, sit in the front of the class, take school seriously and, most importantly, to act like men. His list of priorities is in order: God, family, school and football, which differs from a lot of other universities lists.
This idea of putting God, family and school before football is what this group collectively calls the brotherhood. This brotherhood is a special bond and a special connection only you and the guy next to you have in common.
That is what I love about sports. It’s a tool for connections, ones you live and die for and would go to extreme to protect. We use sports to influence so much in this world, and we need to use this influence to teach lessons that involve more than just a game. We need to preach about life lessons and use sports as tools to shape and create discipline in our lives.
Harding football was awarded the NCAA student-athlete sportsmanship award for the way they handled the injury to Henderson State wide receiver Robert Jordan after he was seriously injured in last years matchup. They acted this way because of the way they were coached, which is to love others more than yourself. I believe universities can learn a lot from the way the Harding Bisons approach the game.
Don’t forget to tweet me @Shane_M_Schock with the #SchockTalk to ask questions about your favorite Bison team!
#ThatsASchocker
