Sportsmanship..Astonishing Moment

How many of you had a dream in a sport but an injury crushed it, or could have.  Well I myself had a dream to play in the county finals for my high school volleyball season but an injury stopped it. In my semi finals match I dove for a ball and fractured my growth plate in my shoulder. This is a day that I will never forget. I stood on the sidelines in such agony because of my shoulder. I was in a pitiful mood because I played every game of the season except the one I had dreamed about. What if you saw someone else get injured, but you were capable of helping him/her through it to achieve their goal and make a life time memory. Sarah Tucholsky was a college softball player who played for Western Oregon. She was short in stature and never hit for power. She was a line drive hitter and never hit a homerun in her whole career. It was not until April 26^th, 2008 when she finally hit her first homerun, a three-run shot that put her team up on top in a playoff game. As she was rounding first base, something terrible happened. She missed the bag so she had to go back to touch it. As she pivoted to go back to the back, she fell to the ground and tore her ACL. Her dream of hitting a home run wouldn't count if she did not finish a complete circuit around the base. The rule was that no one from her team was able to assist her in doing this. If anyone touched her from her team, the homerun would be overruled. Her team did not want to take this away from her. They all stood there in hope. She had to make it around the bases by herself. This was impossible because she was a long way from home in screeching pain. The opposing team Central Washington, Mallory Holtman and Liz Wallace asked the umpire if they could carry her around the bases. The umpire said that this is actually allowed. Why would an opposing team do this for their competition during a game that if they lose, they would be eliminated. Holtman and Wallace, not only demonstrated such sportsmanship, the aspirations or ethics that a sport or activity will be enjoyed for its own sake, with proper consideration for fairness, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one's competitors, but made Tucholskys’ life long dream come true. The homerun counted and the Western Oregon team had defeated CWU.  Holtman was the homerun leader of her Central Washington team, while Tucholskys never hit one in her whole career. As their end of the year game of the sport they loved, they shared this opportunity of such athletic achievement. Tucholsky was a part time starter because her team had such depth. Previous to the homerun she sent out of the stadium, she only had 3 hits out of her 34 at-bats this season. This moment will never be forgotten in sports. Today, it seems like everyone is playing to win and the mentality is winning is everything. In this case, winning was not everything for Holtman and Wallace. These two players wanted to make a difference in Tucholskys life. She will never forget how an opposing team helped her achieve her goal and how it actually affected them because CWU lost their postseason appearance. This video is very touching to me. I watched it over and over because this is something I can relate to. I hate when there are no refs in a game and your opponent calls a ball that was an out just to get that point that gives them the advantage. This is not who I am, I live to play and win the game fair. Sportsmanship is rarely seen these days because everyone just wants the glory of achievement and winning. I would rather impact someone’s life forever and demonstrate a passion for the game rather than have the glory of winning a game and watching a players dream get washed away as easily as if it was written in the sand.  What would you do in this situation?  “Character is who you really are, reputation is just what other people think you are”