Sportsmanship still exists

I
’ve written about the “me first” culture of sports that has been trending in the last several years and of the regret I’ve felt regarding how the real lessons of sports have been lost. 
But, then I saw a video from the Oklahoma City Thunder versus the New Orleans Pelicans game back on Dec. 14, 2018, that restored my faith in the true value of participating in sports. 
Steven Adams (OKC) sacrificed an easy and-one because he cared more about Mason Plumlee (NO) who, in an attempt to defend the shot, jumped up and rolled off Adams’ back and was on his way to the floor head-first. 
Instead of going up for the shot, Adams actually put the ball down in order to catch Plumlee and try to keep him from getting hurt in the fall. 
The message sent in that single moment is so important. That message is that winning isn’t the most important aspect of playing the game.
In fact, at the point in the game when Adams made the scoring sacrifice, the Thunder were down six points with eight minutes to play. Though they retained possession of the ball, the team wasn’t able to convert the offensive opportunity, so in essence, gave up potentially cutting the Pelican’s lead to three.    
Competition is awesome but what is most important are the people who are competing 
Maybe it’s the recent loss of Kobe and Gigi along with the children and parents who perished in the tragic helicopter crash, or maybe it’s simply a heartfelt enlightenment of recognizing the importance of humanity, but I think this one caring act that is being brought back to the public’s attention a little over a year later may be a catching trend. 
At least I pray that it is. 
This has made me reflect on positive trends that I have seen recently in high school sports. There seems to be more shaking of hands, helping players on opposing teams back to their feet, and just a more general expression of sportsmanship between even the most extreme of rivalries.
Last fall, the 3A East Volleyball teams seemed to be building a community among the schools, supporting each other in hard times and just helping each other out in small, but important, ways.
In basketball this winter, I’ve watched players apologize and shake hands with each other after committing a foul in the heat of the moment, engage in light hearted conversation during free throws, all while maintaining a competitive edge to the game.
It really does my heart good to see that we seem to be acknowledging that there’s so much more to the game than which team comes out on top.   
By the way, OKC would end up winning that game by five, which makes me wonder if the good karma Adams earned for his act worked in the team’s favor in the end.