Hope and Basketball

S is a beautiful young woman in our ward with profound autism. When she turned twelve, her mom and grandmother were worried that the change to YW would be upsetting for S because she loved Primary so much. Her grandma in particular worried that S would be disruptive to YW and that the girls wouldn't respond well. I watched the wonderful, beautiful YW call out to S to greet her. They shared their scriptures with her, they spent time with her. They loved her. When I was released from being the YW president, her grandma bore a testimony of gratitude. She said "Every Sunday S says 'Grandma church! See my friends!' You are her friends because you say hi to her, look her in the eyes and say something nice to her. You made yourselves her friends." I was so proud of 'my' YW that day. Since then, they have begun helping S with her Personal Progress and have continued to love and nurture her.

Our stake has never been very athletically minded, at least not in an organized sense. One year there was a half-hearted attempt to have YW and YM volleyball games. Recently they decided to try basketball. Games are held on weeknights--YW on Thursday nights and YM on Friday nights. A 9pm game on a school night before 6am seminary the next morning can provide a significant obstacle to regular team participation.

Our ward YW have never been terribly enthusiastic about basketball. CE really deeply hates the sport and has only played under significant duress. But S likes basketball. Her tutor plays on the state championship basketball team and taught her to shoot and dribble. So, now our ward YW play basketball.

We arrived at the stake center tonight for the first game of the season. CE saw S. She saw another ward member and then no one else. S's grandma started to get worried that the girls would have to forfeit. S wanted to play so badly. The other game finished. I jokingly said to one of the girls finishing, hey, do you want to stay and play another game? She enthusiastically volunteered to help out. She and two other teammates stayed, so we had a team of 6 to start the game.

Almost every time S got the ball, she made a basket. The refs, once they noticed S's aversion to the whistle, hardly blew their whistles. The scorekeeper barely tapped the buzzer. Everyone tried to make sure S got the ball and then when she did they waited. Both teams stopped, waited for S to dribble slowly to the basket and shoot. Over and over again. No one told the girls on the other team to let S shoot. They just did. They all cheered her on. She's a really good shot! No one forced the girls that stayed to help out our feeble roster; they gladly chipped in. The game was real, it wasn't given away to our ward. We lost by 2 points and everyone got to play and participate. S was a real participant, according to her strengths and abilities. It was the most loving basketball game I have ever seen.

Sometimes I am in absolute awe of the youth I know. S had fun. She played basketball. She was loved both by the girls who know her and already love her, as well as by girls who met her tonight on the court--girls with divine light streaming from their eyes. Sometimes I get discouraged by all the mean spiritedness in the world. The world can be a dark and unkind place. And then sometimes, I go to a basketball game and I am filled with hope for the future.