Forgiving Hoopers & Players

Forgiveness: The act of playing harmoniously with players and hoopers. The inclusion and acceptance of their ways on the court.

In the Love of the Game, there is a deeper level of sight that every true student must eventually reach. It is the ability to see hoopers, players, and students clearly without becoming bitter toward any of them. A student of the game who forgives, and loves their neighbors and enemies is seeing the game correctly. They understand that every player on the court has a role in the development process of skills.

The hooper, the player, and the student all reveal something about the game itself.

Without hoopers and players, students would cease to exist because there would be no higher developmental level to strive toward. The existence of lower levels exposes the value of mastery. Darkness reveals light. Disorder reveals order. Rebellion reveals obedience. The student understands this and therefore does not move with hatred, arrogance, or pride.

They move with understanding.

The Three Spirits of the Game

There are hoopers.

There are players.

There are students.

The distinction is not what someone says with their mouth, but what occurs on the court. And “on the court” truly means in the heart, in the mind, in the body.

A hooper rejects the laws of the game altogether. They play according to desire, emotion, pride, and impulse. They do what feels good in the moment. The laws of basketball are beneath them in their own eyes. They may appear skillful on the surface, but inwardly they refuse instruction, discipline, and order.

A player is different. A player knows the laws of the game. They study them, practice them, and may even teach them. But when pressure arrives during real competition, they deny what they know. In the game itself, they abandon the laws for convenience, fear, ego, or survival. They know the truth, but do not endure in it.

But a student is one who knows the laws and applies them during games. They endure until the end. The student seeks mastery through application. They understand that true skill development is not proven in isolated workouts, but in live game obedience.

Mastery is game application.

The student does not merely admire the laws.

They keep them.

The Meaning of Love in the Game

To love the game is not emotional excitement.

Love means to sin not against.

And sin is transgression of the laws of the game.

This means a student loves basketball by refusing to violate its principles. They honor spacing, timing, decision-making, footwork, teamwork, patience, discipline, and wisdom. They submit themselves to the order of the game rather than forcing the game to bow to their desires.

To love your neighbor, then, is to not sin against fellow students of the game. Neighbors are students. They are fellow workers walking the same narrow developmental road.

But the teaching becomes harder when it comes to enemies.

Enemy means anti-student.

An enemy opposes development. They resist growth, reject order, mock discipline, and war against the path of mastery. Yet the true student still forgives them and loves them anyway.

Why?

Because forgiveness is the inclusion of the hoopers and players.

Forgiveness is understanding that these individuals exist as part of the landscape of skill development. The student sees them clearly without becoming corrupted by them, or hating them on the court. They understand that hoopers will be hoopers, players will be players, and students must continue being students regardless of what surrounds them.

The Judgment of the Game

“The student's path is narrow, and is set in a dangerous place to fall, like as if there were a fire on the right hand, and on the left a deep water: And one only path between them both, even between the fire and the water, so small that there could but one player go there at once.” ‐ 2 Esdras 7:7-8

The game itself responds differently to each spirit.

The game will spew out hoopers because they are lukewarm. They refuse discipline yet still desire reward. They want glory without submission to the laws.

The game will bring toil and struggle upon players because divided obedience produces instability. They know what is correct but betray it when tested.

But students endure because they continue in the laws during pressure, hardship, fatigue, failure, and competition.

Still, the student must remain humble.

A student is never beyond falling.

At any moment, pride, laziness, bitterness, or self-righteousness can cause them to slip from the narrow path. The destruction beneath their feet is always present. This is why students continue working. They continue studying. They continue applying. They continue humbling themselves before the laws of the game.

The path of mastery is narrow because love of the game is rare.

Seeing Clearly

A mature student eventually reaches a powerful realization:

There will always be hoopers.

And the players are many.

But the students are few.

And yet the student chooses harmony with them.

They continue loving the game by keeping its laws regardless of who surrounds them. They do not become distracted by the rebellion of hoopers or discouraged by the ways of players. They forgive them and continue walking the path of mastery because it is the right thing to do.

This is the mastered knowledge found in the Love of the Game.

To see hoopers, players, and students clearly, yet still remain committed to becoming a student yourself, is a blessing, honor, and privilege. It is evidence of the faith inside you. The game has begun revealing itself to you.

But revelation alone is not enough.

The student must continue the work.

Continue developing.

Continue applying.

Continue enduring unto mastery.

Shalom, and Master it.