[UCCBball] Fwd: Basketball training starting Monday nights 730? Long email but please read! (fwd)

[Alwyn Lloyd]

From Lawrence.

have a good game! :)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Laurence Houghton <laurencehoughton at hotmail.com>
Date: 2009/4/13
Subject: Basketball training starting Monday nights 730? Long email
but please read!


Hey captains,



Hope those who made it down Saturday enjoyed it, feel free to suggest
improvements…



News is that we have a court booked Monday nights at challenge stadium
from 745-945pm starting on 4th May. $66 for the 2 hours, so hopefully
work out as $2 each.



I suggest the following court times for teams (could change each week
to give different teams option of full court at end):





½ court A

½ court B

745-825

WD

A1/A2a

825-905

WA

A2b/C1

905-945

C2a (D to mix with both sides)

C2b



In the meantime, for the next 3 weeks I suggest getting training
started outside at Claremont at the same times 730-945pm on Monday
nights (while the weather stays reliable!).



It would be good if you could consider incorporating a ‘team time’ at
training. Perhaps using material such as ‘born to play’
(http://www.christiansinsport.org.uk/downloads/files/Born_To_Play-English.pdf
) or stuff like I’ve attached to this email (will regularly forward to
help keep you thinking!).



Please let me know your patter,



Go strong,



Laurence



Ps. Fixtures for the week at www.baptistbasketball.info





International

Email



02 April 09





Home Page















FAIR PLAY II

Two weeks ago I argued that even though professional fouls are rife in
the world of sport, Jesus’ work in the heart and mind of the Christian
player is to stop them being conformed to the world around them and
instead to transform them to live in a way that is pleasing to him.
Everyone else may be getting away with it when the referee’s back is
turned, your coach may urge you to do it, but God wants you to ‘act
justly’ so that others ‘see your good deeds and glorify God in the day
of his visitation’.

Now I’m aware that many Christian players may disagree with this point
of view – not least because I’ve battled with it myself over the
years. There are many objections from, ‘it’s an accepted part of the
game’ and ‘there’s a difference between the written rules and the
refereed rules’ to ‘I won’t be such a good player if I didn’t do it’.
However I think it helps to consider a little more closely the
motivation that lies behind the professional foul to see how different
the Christian approach is.

Vince Lombardi once said ‘winning isn’t everything, it’s the only
thing!’ and this is the attitude that underpins professional fouls.
One of the great insights that the Bible gives us into why we do wrong
things is in the letter to the Colossians 3:5. When Paul is giving a
list of wrong attitudes he mentions one word in the Greek that gets
translated ‘evil desires’. The word actually means ‘over-desires’ or
‘excessive-desires’ and it’s the same word that is used in the last
commandment ‘do not covet’. This helps us understand that we do wrong
things not so much out of wrong desires but out of excessive desires.



Let me explain; wanting to win is a good thing (as I’ve argued
before), it’s one of the appropriate rewards for playing in a game,
but when winning is over-desired then it can cause you to cheat and
even harm your opponent to get it; similarly desiring to play well for
the reserves to break into the first team is fine – it’s part of the
way that team sport works, but if getting into the first-team is your
everything then you’ll do whatever you can to achieve it – whether
it’s taking-out another player off the ball or taking drugs to enhance
performance. We do wrong things not so much out of wrong desires but
out of excessive desires.

This helps us understand why players commit professional fouls; they
could play within the rules and accept the result, but winning’s so
important to them that they’d rather break the rules and win.
Similarly you can see why it’s a slippery slope from a professional
foul to taking performance enhancing drugs. After all if winning’s so
important then who’s to say what’s unjustified in attaining the gold
medal?

Paul starts chapter three in Colossians by reminding Christians that
‘since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things
above’. He’s saying that the power to change and to be different in a
culture of professional fouls comes from getting your perspective
right. Fix your attention on Christ – remind yourself of the perfect
life that he lived for you and of the remarkable death that he died
for you. This means that you don’t have to win to be successful or
highly regarded – because you’re already highly regarded by God
because of Christ’s death and resurrection. And remember that all your
wrong conduct on and off the pitch has been paid for and forgiven. So
by his power within you ‘do not be conformed but be transformed’ and
use all of the gifts he’s given to play at your best - only do so
within the rules.

Pete



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