Dear Mrs. Sweeney;

 

Hello, my name is Anthony Greene and my son is Declan Greene. Declan is on the Luther Northwest HS freshman basketball team.  We played Cabrini yesterday at your location and I was in attendance at the game.

As the game entered the final 3 minutes of the 4^th quarter Coach Nelson (LHNW) put the “B squad” in to get the boys some playing time. One of the boys, Eddie I think is his name, is a foreign exchange student. As such, he is on the team to learn sports.  His style of play is very unique and sort of comical but he does give it his all during the game. During the final 2 minutes, his teammates tried several times to get him the ball in an attempt to shoot and score a basket.

As the clock wound down to 29 seconds Eddie shot the ball and Cabrini rebounded. The Cabrini player was unsure of what to do, he obviously acknowledged what NW was trying to do, so he accidentally dropped the ball in front of Eddie. Eddie shot again and missed and Cabrini rebounded again. This time another Cabrini player, aware of the moment, passed the ball to Eddie who shot and missed again. This was repeated a third time, a Cabrini rebound and a fumbled pass and finally Eddie shot and scored with 4 seconds to go in the game. The crowd erupted and the game ended as NW celebrated the moment of Eddies first basket.

 

I would like to commend your basketball Coach and his team for the display of sportsmanship and understanding they displayed at the end of the game. The entire NW parent group was extremely impressed with the  display of a “class act” exhibited by your boys.  As a former elementary school basketball coach I always strived to teach team work and  winning but with the understanding of playing time and learning the game as opposed to steam rolling the opponent.

 

In closing, please accept and pass along  to your staff and students a thank you for the public display of Christian values. It is truly a credit to you and your staff that this unsolicited situation transpired. I along with the NW parents in attendance were impressed and grateful,

 

Anthony Greene