The Underdog

For months, Caleb begged me to sign him up for basketball.  I signed him up in 3rd grade, and he didn't even get to touch the ball at all during some games.  He's not very agressive.  It didn't bother him.  He just ran along with the other kids and had a fun time.  Well, I gave in and signed him up for Spring basketball.  He is on a 5th/6th grade team.  He is in 5th grade, and one of the younger kids in his grade.  He thinks its great even though he plays less than the other kids, and he goes entire games without touching the ball.  Yesterday was a little different.
At the beginning of the game, the teams were pretty even.  But by the second quarter, Caleb's team was losing by a lot.  Just after halftime, they started having trouble with the scoreboard.  So, they could no longer even put the score up. 
When there was three minutes left in the game, Caleb's coach put him back in the game.  I was kind of surprised.  Caleb had not even touched the ball during the game to that point.  Then someone fouled Caleb.  I'm not sure if he even had the ball.  The referee put him at the free-throw line.  His first shot was an air ball.  For the next free-thrown the ref moved him up a few feet.  And he made it!!  After the free throw, someone passed Caleb the ball, and he attempted a shot.  He was fouled again.  Once again, he got to the free-throw line.  Well, actually 4 feet in front of the free throw line.    He made another shot!!  He missed the next one.  But the awesome thing was that the other team was cheering him on and giving him high fives.  So was his team.  My little underdog made two shots!  And I almost cried. 
The kindness shown by the refs and the other team was amazing!  Caleb was on cloud nine all day yesterday.  And he's still talking about it today.
If you have an "underdog" child you'll understand why this was a great day.