Redeemed competition. Here is one brief definition - "Striving Together." Fallen competition is "striving against." A description is often better than a definition. Such is the case here. Listen to this excerpt from Pat Conroy's My Losing Season as he and his fellow guard, John DeBrosse, on the Citadel basketball team talk about their experience of "striving together." "I've always told my players and coaches that something used to happen between us every practice, Conroy. Do you remember?" Something stirred, then struck a huge chord of memory, and I got that slight shiver that happens when I catch a glimpse of a part of my past that has slipped out of sight. "When the guards would split up from the forwards and centers and we would go to the opposite court to do drills," John said. "I remember. I loved that." "It always happened when you and I went on-on-one together. You guarding me. Me guarding you. There was nothing like it." "You liked it because you were so much better than me." "No," he said. "We went after each other like no two other players on the team. Not a word was spoken. No trash talking. Just pure respect. The whole atmosphere in the gym changed. I brought out the best in you. You brought out the best in me. Man, that was something."

Posted by Bob Schindler at 2022-12-20 14:30:12 UTC