Words of Guidance

I attended the men’s baseball game against Diablo Valley College and the men’s basketball game against Foothill College, and two common themes arose in both games that made me proud to attend Skyline College.

Before I get to the point please allow me to set the stage.

Early in the baseball game, DVC was leading 5-1. You could tell the Trojan players were starting to get frustrated, especially since this was there third or fourth loss in a row.

On a routine ground ball to third, the DVC third baseman did not throw the ball over to first base quick enough, and one of the Skyline players took offense and yelled something inappropriate for children at the offending DVC player.

Coach Dino Nomicos, head baseball coach for the Trojans if you didn’t know, responded quickly and appropriately to squash the display of poor sportsmanship by his team. Putting it nicely, coach Nomicos told his player to knock it off, and act with some class.

The player quickly quieted down and there was no more bickering from any Skyline player the rest of the game.

A similar scenario played itself out during the men’s basketball game against Foothill College.

A healthy dose of idiotic, rude, yet spirited Foothill fans bombarded our home court, unequivocally outnumbering our fans.

As obnoxious as their fans were, the Foothill coach was even worse.

During one time out, he got so mad, he screamed at his players, cursing them for their apparent horrible play and stupidity. Although, I would like to add Foothill was up by 10 and had the Trojans looking lost at times.

The tantrum was so over-the-top that the foothill fans started yelling at the coach “that’s enough” and “take it easy.” While the melodrama reached Days of our Lives proportions, Coach Justin Piergrossi talked to his players coolly and professionally, sternly urging the team on despite the fact they were playing so poorly. He did so without any of the drunken-father outbursts being displayed on the other side.

The class and professionalism coach Piergrossi displayed was mirrored onto his players who, by the way, had more reason to be upset and frustrated. However, the Skyline players did not let how the season has gone this year get to them. In the end, Skyline beat Foothill.

So, I hope the moral of the stories presented here is clear. The two games illustrated life lessons passed down from coach to player. At the end of the day, the games were not about losing or winning, but about not giving up when things do not go your way. They were about competing the right way with a sense of place and perspective. The two games were junior college games, meaningless because their outcomes affected nothing. The meaning came in the positive examples set by both Skyline coaches.