“A man can get something from war that is impossible to acquire anyplace else.”

Richard D. Winters, Band of Brothers

Have you ever relished the feeling of defeat?

Pause for a moment. Recall the most devastating loss you’ve ever had. Think deeply and accurately of what led to it. What did you do to cope during the pain, and how did you come to terms with the results while simultaneously pressing forward? These were my thoughts since last week when my school’s basketball team, the Sentul Eagles, competed in the Final Four matchups for this year’s JAAC (Jakarta Area Atheltic Conference) Basketball Championship.

Our semi-finalist game was against the almighty UPH (Universitas Pelita Harapan) College Eagles team, and it was undoubtedly our team’s toughest game yet. Subsequently, although engaging in a back-and-forth battle earlier in the First Quarter, our opponents dominated offensively and consistently controlled the pace of the game throughout the remaining quarters. Needless to say, we have lost to a solidly built team who eventually won the JAAC Championship against our good-old school rivals, the SPH LV Eagles.

Capping off the day’s games, our team won the spot for Third place against the JIS (Jakarta Intercultural School) Dragons. Our season run, as an entire SPH Sentul Eagles team, has culminated with the highest ranking our school has achieved to this day.

What made this day personally memorable to me was not the fact that we won Third place in the entire competition. It is the outpour of my team’s emotions after that elimination game with UPH College that captivated me. Everyone’s reflective state was in full display right after that loss.

We were broken as a team, and the tears we’ve shed is a natural response to the months of hard work invested by our students and the amazing love they have for the game of basketball. We wanted to win, and I mean win BIG! We embodied a “Go Hard or Go Home” mentality. Yet, we’ve fallen short. As a Christian assistant coach who hates losing, within that short span of time, I processed my own thoughts and emotions in learning the good I can get it from this. Conclusively, I ended up finding the virtue behind this defeat – to be fully dependent and intimate with Jesus regardless of the results.

Yes, we have to feel the pain of defeat. At times, we have to sit or lay down thinking about it and sulk in that moment where we thought we could’ve done better. However, in the grand scheme of things, the blessings we can count as a team far outweigh the most unfortunate (or even fortunate) times of loss:

• As mentioned earlier, we won Third place overall in the JAAC Competition – a first for SPH Sentul City!
• The team had lesser injuries and fought to the best of their abilities for one last dance on the court.
• The seniors were able to compete this school year post-COVID. Basketball competition was nearly non-existent almost 2 years ago during the height of the pandemic.
• SPH Sentul Eagles left a stamp on other schools that they are a force to be reckoned with, and so much more!

There’s a multitude of reasons for all of us to acknowledge and enact dependence and intimacy with Jesus. Thus, this loss became a springboard for our team to be thankful and to be further ready for the next JAAC Season!

Last Thursday (16^th of February), our school celebrated “Senior Night” – an event to commemorate the graduating basketball players from both the men’s and women’s division as a final “Hoorah!” in our own home court. The image above is the very first activity we did as a team before training for the JAAC Competition – prayer. Prayer is the most intimate, spiritual activity we’ve all been collectively a part of. This final prayer made me understand how much we all need Jesus individually and how we need to be accountable to each others’ Christ-centered journey as we spur each other towards deeper intimacy with Him.

As I look forward to next year’s basketball season, may the lines of the song “In Christ Alone” echo comfort and hope in you as it did to me:

“In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My comforter, my all in all
Here in the love of Christ I stand.“

Didaskalos,

Joseph L.

“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”

Proverbs 27:17

Basketball has been the predominant (if not, the only!) sport I’ve loved growing up and will always be the sport that’ll keep me on my toes ’til I get older. I became a fan of the game back in high school when I first saw Larry Bird posters being sold on street corners nearby school premises and watched some blurry, old videos of him torching his opponents from (by then) “advanced” Nokia phones of my classmates. Subsequently, I irrevocably became a die-hard supporter of the Big Green, Boston Celtics!

From being a fan of basketball superstars who chased individual accolades, I’ve fully transitioned to loving the game as a team sport.

As of this current school year, I have been given the privilege to become an integral component in the game I love most as the Assistant Coach of my school’s basketball team – the Sentul Eagles! This is quite frankly my first year of coaching and I’m thrilled to co-lead and serve these young ballers in their pursuit to skillfully excel and use their talents for a greater purpose. Needless to say, once I embarked on such responsiblity, my understanding of “teamwork” had the word “accountability” written all over it!

• Ensure that all equipment is ready before each and every practice ✅ 
• Fulfill the role of Assistant Coach within the Senior Varsity team, but be the Head Coach of the JV team. ✅ 
• Assist players in circumstances that involve medical aid (which meant I’m in charge of the medical kit for every game and practice). ✅ 
• …and my personal favorite (as instructed to me by my Head Coach)..be a motivator/encourager in the team whether it’s before, during, or after training sessions and games. ✅ 

All of these individual responsibilities resonated most perfectly during (in my opinion) one of the most crucial moments in both basketball trainings, scrimmages, and games – huddles. This is where accountability was voiced and exercised the most.

From my lens, I initially thought that huddles were exclusively chief avenues for coaches to impart strategy and further instructions of gameplay to their players. Within this school community, I’ve observed that huddles, amazingly, also give opportunities for our players to straightforwardly share what works offensively or defensively for them as a team and accountably correct or motivate each other towards winning and character building. As accountable as I am to the responsibilities I endeavor to uphold as an assistant coach, I have never seen such display of accountability within a group of young ballers who can spur each other in basketball wisdom and integrity – be it in victory or defeat. It’s fascinating to watch all of these unfold during huddles that last around a minute or two.

Furthermore, aside from the encouragement each player receives during huddles, it is also in these moments where prayer is lifted before and after each game – a prayer to be thankful for the camaraderie and brotherhood exhibited by the team. This may be trivial for some high school teams out there, but in the cultural context of where I’m at currently, this is HUGE and I’m deeply in awe every time GOD is included in basketball.

One of the most notable fruits of this “Huddle Effect” happened last November 2022. Our team competed against several schools for the ACS Basketball Tournament. Not only did the team participated, they came to win it all!

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During the last minutes of their Finals game, it was all about how much they needed to push each other to play basketball to its nearest perfection through teamwork, solid effort, and the pivotal moments of encouragement every player had towards each other.

Huddles, when surrendered to GOD, definitively work wonders.

Didaskalos,

Joseph L.