Telesis Girls Teach Lesson in Courage

Yesterday was my birthday and it wasn't until Friday that I finally figured out what I wanted.

Just the other day I took an online quiz, and one of the questions was what character from the Wizard of Oz am I most like. I thought I was a perfect fit for the scarecrow, but after Friday I now know that I'm more like the cowardly lion than I'd like to admit.

I want what the cowardly lion wanted - courage. I don't want your run of the mill courage. I want the courage that I saw exhibited by the Lake Havasu Telesis girls basketball team.

Before Telesis took on our Kingman Academy of Learning, I did some research on the league's Web site and saw that Telesis was 0-1. The Web site reported a score of 75-0, but that couldn't have been right, could it?

Unfortunately, it was correct. And it is correct that KAOL beat them 68-0 on Friday.

Stephen Crane wrote "The Red Badge of Courage" in 1895. If he had seen the play of Telesis on Friday, he would have never written his book and would have allowed someone in the year 2007 to write it. It was truly as remarkable a show of courage that I have ever seen take place on a basketball court or any athletic field. Ever.

After losing their opening game to Quartzsite Scholars, I am left to wonder what was going on in the minds of those young ladies. Did they consider quitting? I hope not. The Telesis Tigers have a lot to offer to those who witness their games.

I do know that they aren't quitters. Telesis did not lay down one bit against KAOL. They kept trying and trying. I only saw one moment where one of their players got frustrated. Her coach quickly took the time to talk to her, and that was the end of that.I have to look at myself through the mirror that the Telesis team has held up in front of me. Do I have what it takes to come off of a 75-0 drubbing and be willing to face another one?

As I begin another trip around the bright yellow orb in the sky, I have discovered that I need a dose of Telesis-like courage.When my boss hands me that assignment that presses me down to the core, I will remember Telesis and what they have given me, even if they don't realize it.

I'll leave our cozy little confines here at the Miner and face the challenge as if I was trying to score a basket.

I have to do this. Though Telesis scored nothing, they didn't try for nothing. It is my moral responsibility to the Telesis Lady Tigers that their effort on Friday never goes down in history as nothing.

After all, they gave me the best birthday present I could have ever asked for.

Shawn Byrne

Miner Sports Writer