We All Win

It was a two-point game at halftime when I made it down to the fieldhouse this afternoon to support our girls' basketball team.  

A sparse crowd of kids in the stands watched as the ref tweeted his whistle and handed the ball to our point guard to commence the second half. The only staff on the sidelines was the assistant principal and me, and we stood, arms crossed, as the girls raced up and back on the court. We all cheered when at last our team wrested the lead from the visitors and kept it until the end of the quarter. 

Duty called, and the assistant principal led all of the students riding the late bus out of the gym and up to the front of the building. By that time, the principal herself had joined us and she was quickly caught up in the game, the score going back and forth, but staying within two.

"This must be a good one if you're still here at the end," the wrestling coach cracked as he came over after his team practice.

"Definitely worth the price of admission," I joked back, as our coaches burned a timeout to save a player in trouble with the press. 

But as we watched the girls hold their lead to win by one at the buzzer, their teammates emptying the bench and fans swarming onto the court to congratulate them on the victory, all of us knew that this experience was pretty priceless.