After all these years, an "ah ha" moment - and one that I want to tell you about. If any of you have more games in the loss column than the win column this season, I hope this speaks to you.

Last season, we had the best season in the history of our university. Folks here were buzzing about women's basketball, and you know how excited that gets you, as a coach. Trouble is, we lost 80 % or our scoring and about that much of our rebounding. On and off the court, these first weeks of the season have been hard, filled with drama, mistakes, and losses. Last weekend, we made a trip to southern California, and lost our 2nd overtime game of the season. At 2-6 I don't mind telling you I was feeling a bit mopey.

But as the Lord would have it, I had the opportunity to meet Dallas Willard and his wife Jane for breakfast the morning after. I had to get up really early and drive a long way in the traffic - so I had lots of thinking time. Turnovers, last second situations, bad shots, etc. filled my brain. When I sat down with them, Dallas simply asked me, "How did it go last night?" I started whining, yes whining about the perils of losing.

To my shock, he had the biggest smile you have ever seen on his face as I ranted on. When I was done, he smiled even more. "That is wonderful!" he exclaimed very sincerely (like i had just developed the cure for cancer). " YOU get to be the one who teaches them about losing! It's a world that is obsessed with winning more than ever, and YOU, Jane, have a very important job."

I got out my notebook and wrote down every word he said for the next hour and a half. He was simply describing a Kingdom coach.

"You get to teach these young ladies how to win when they lose - that they are not failures simply because they fail. Sports are a business and you simply cannot control it. In biology, the term sport is a freak, unpredictable; like a frog with 3 eyes. Right now, we are living in a world where there is no such thing as a moral victory, and that is the devil's lie. In fact, a moral victory is the only such kind there is. 'When the great scorer comes to put a mark beside your name, He will say not if you won or lost but how you played the game'." Then we went on to talk about Coach John Wooden's Pyramid of Success, the definition of success, and why competitive greatness is ON TOP of the other virtues. I agreed, the world tries to take short cuts and go straight for the top; and that when you focus ONLY ON PERFORMANCE, you simply cannot learn on any other level.

So my friends, with renewed energy I approached my team later that day. We "got back to the pyramid" and have talked about the blocks every day since then. Of course I talked to them about Tim Tebow, who just happens to be a living demonstration of the virtues coach described, and of competitive greatness.

We lost the next day, and I praised them. Their effort was great. We were getting better. We left California with renewed hope.

And last night, a Pac 12 team came to town. I spoke of our record being 0-0 and theirs being 0-0 too (though the world said they were 7-2). I begged them for the "stuff" in the pyramid.

It was another close game, and we won on a buzzer beater. Dallas would have said, "that's the way the ball bounces", and he would smile.

So I challenge you, change your way of thinking. Get back to the pyramid, teach basketball, but teach life every day. You have their ears and they are watching.

Keep the Faith,

Janeygal