A Lesson In Humility

Every summer for the past like 5 years, I play softball for this church and it usually takes up a good chunk of my time during the summer. So I remember in my 2nd year I believe, I had a close friend who played for another team and I saw that we were facing her team for our last game of the season, so we would always like jokingly talk trash back and forth. As the season progresses, they hadn't won a game and we ourselves won like 2.7 or 3/6 games...so we would talk a lot of trash leading up tot he game like oh, it's gonna be so easy, we're gonna beat them by so much, we're gonna hit so many home runs. Come game time...were like 2/7 I'm pretty sure and they're 0/9....the last game of the season and we're cocky as heck...everything falls apart...our hits were solid, our defence was half hearted, it seemed like everything went their way and against our way. It ended up being a pretty close game near the end, but there was no dramatic ending, straight up...they won. I remember being distraught, shocked, pissed, upset, angry...and my friend, the coach at the time was probably feeling double of everything that I was feeling. The morale of our team was pretty low, we knew we had just lost a game that we could have and should have won, but our heads were down for a different reason, as they yelled and cheered super loudly for their first victory...we had our heads down in disappointment...but we knew that we deserved to lose that game...and we did. I walked aside to my head coach who was sitting my himself, seething...telling him, hey...you know we deserved to lose that game right...the whole season we were chirping them...saying to our team oh, they haven't won a single game, we're gonna crush them...it's gonna be a walk in the park. We deserved to lose...we got exactly what we deserved. I remember talking to my friend on the other team that same night and apologizing and also congratulating her...because it was a fun time and I was happy to see them happy, despite being upset that my team lost. It was a needed lesson in humility, pride and cockiness. To not get ahead of yourself, but to be humble in your triumphs and accomplishments. I look back today at that game and laugh...cuz we had no right to be cocky considering we were the 2nd worst team to their worst...we weren't even a good team ourselves. I look back at that game and am happy we lost, we deserved it. I'm glad God knocked me off my pedestal because I got too cocky, too full of myself, too boastful. Any ways, kinda unrelated...one year later, one season later...here we were again, in the same shoes, facing the same team with majority of the same people on both teams...I was coaching this time, my friend who coached the year previously was assisting me. We never spoke it outwardly, but my friend and I both has sour tastes in our mouths just as competitors of sports. But we knew it was just a game, we cheered hard for the other team, encouraged our team to play and work hard...but I know for sure him and I played with a chip on our shoulders, wanting to win extra bad, not for boasting, but just to know we could...and we did...and it was super satisfying inwardly, but it was nice to talk with them after the game and reminisce and share stories and such. I know it was unrelated, but it kinda was at the same time...moral of the main story is anything can  happen, never get cocky...being confident is one thing, but never get boastful about it.