A Devastation of Fairness

Our school held its 26^th founding anniversary last February 14 to 18. On that week, we students showed our talents in different categories like ballroom, modern dancing, cheering and ball games. For the first three categories, juniors won all of it except for the modern dance which was won by the senior students. It was a very tough competition, everybody did their best for the said event.

And for the next three days comes the ball games. It includes sports like basketball, badminton and volleyball. Every night before our next game, I pray that may players do their best for God’s glory, may there be a fair game, honesty and sportsmanship among all athletes. Then, comes morning, I choose to play basketball. Being the fourth game of the event, I was sitting on a chair and observing the players, committees and referees. For the first three games, I saw fairness, respect, and honesty. I like what the referees, players were doing. Finally, it is our game. I saw determination among my teammates. I love their spirits which inspired me to play. We work as a team now unlike last year. For me, the calls of the refs were fair for the first day. For the second day, I did the same thing. There is still respect among the players but believe it or not, I saw many violations like 4 steps traveling, back court violations, 3 second violations which were not called by the officials. This made the players feel that the game was cooked or “Luto”. Then comes another game for us, our team and the other team greet each other before the game. This time I tested the referees, honestly, I travelled the ball three steps. But the ref did not throw a call on me :(. I do not know what the refs were doing that time. I lose my appetite for the game. For my teammates, I also saw them being hit by others. The opponents were throwing elbows on us, pushing us. I am really confused! When the players were wrestling at each other, there are no fouls. If a pinky was hold on an arm a foul was called! Where is fairness? Equality? My teammates were disappointed about it. For our last game against the seniors, we tried to give them a fair game. Both teams were playing good basketball but, it is all about the calls. We pass the ball well. My teammates said that if I am open I have to shoot and that is what I did. After the game, I realized that winning does not matter if it is done through cheating. I love the players sportsmanship not only in our section but in every year. Even though a lot of pressure is on them, they decided to play the game. I may not see other players play harsh but for my observation it is the referee’s fault why players become hot headed.

For this experience, I learned that being patience is important, even though the call is unfair; you have to keep calm and do not cause any scene. As we all know, Honesty is the best policy. We must be fair to others, if you know that you are doing wrong, stop it or else, your conscience will not let you sleep. And last but not the least teamwork. I believe no person can win it all. Even the greatest athlete needs help from others. Even SUPERMAN needs help :))

“Individually, we are one drop, Together, we are an ocean”. Thank you for reading my insights, opinions about the said event :D