GCA Crusader News • Friday, October 9, 2020
GCA Foundations | Responsibility
I’m using this space in the first few newsletters to highlight GCA’s Foundations so that you will better understand why we teach them and how they fit into a Biblical worldview.
The Crusaders volleyball and soccer teams had their first games this past week. I would usually include that statement in a newsletter as a matter of simple information, but this year I don’t think I have to elaborate to anyone how significant it is that we were able to have athletic competition again. Both of our teams played well at times and made some mistakes at other times. They made some highly unlikely good plays and also made some bad plays that seemed equally unlikely. When the games ended, GCA had lost both matches.
I’m ok with that.
Most of you are aware that I am a competitive person. If there is something to win, I want to win it and will work very hard to ensure that I do, so it may seem odd that I say I’m ok with our teams losing. Simply put, winning is not the reason we have an athletic program. At the most basic level, we play sports because it’s fun. As a school we offer athletic competition options because we want our students to have the opportunity to compete, have fun, learn to work within a team, develop physical skills, and be influenced by godly coaches.
One of the great advantages to team sports is that an athlete can witness responsibility played out each practice and game. Responsibility is not just about positioning and team strategy, it’s recognizing that your actions affect the whole and knowing that you are accountable to your entire team for your self. Make a great play? Your whole squad benefits. Miss an assignment? The whole team suffers.
Responsibility affects us similarly in the classroom, lunchroom, hallways, parking lot, office, and playground. We must be conscious of our obligations and ensure that we are being accountable to ourselves and others for what we can control.
But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. -Galatians 6:4-5
S. Jeff Postlewaite
Head of School