On Jan 13th, The Covenant School in Dallas, TX hosted a girls basketball game against the Dallas Academy. What followed was a 100 point loss for the visitors. That’s right, Covenant blew out the visiting team 100-0. But that is only the beginning of the story.

The spirits of everyone connected to Dallas Academy couldn’t be higher. They exemplify what life, not just sports, should be about.

According to Dallas Academy Athletic Director Jeremy Civello, “My girls never quit,” he said. “They played as hard as they could to the very end. They played with all their hearts at 70-nothing, 80-nothing and 100-nothing. I was really proud of them. That’s what I told them after the game.”

Civello went on to say that the girls are playing for much more than just the score. They play in order to learn life lessons with teamwork and bettering their own personal skills.

Losing basketball games is nothing new for Dallas Academy. In fact, they haven’t won in more than 4 years, but that doesn’t bother the girls or their coach.

The game of Jan 13th went over the line though. The Covenant School continue to put full court pressure on, despite having leads of 35-0 after the 1st quarter, 59-0 at the half and 88-0 after 3 quarters.

The team continued its full court press, stealing every ball at half court and going in for layups time after time. The point guard for Covenant scored 48 points as a result.

What makes this story so touching is that Dallas Academy is a school for students with a wide variety of learning issues.

After this game, Dallas Academy withdrew the girls team from the league for the rest of the season. Dallas Academy is a smaller school. There are only 20 girls in the entire high school and 8 on the basketball team. Most have never even played basketball at home, let alone on a team.

The Covenant coach has offered no apology for continuing to beat down Dallas Academy. His comment was that the game was “unfortunate”. He went on to say that his team didn’t intend to harm the other girls.

There was absolutely no reason for any team to do what Covenant did that night. They not only embarrassed the other team, and themselves by the way, but they tried to demoralize the girls from Dallas Academy. They attempted to send a message that they were far superior and poured it on when there was no need for it.

Covenant can boast and gloat over beating someone 100-0, but I say the real winner here is Dallas Academy and every one of those girls. And they will be the real winners in life as well.

UPDATE 1-26-09

The Covenant coach, Michah Grimes was fired yesterday, the same day he sent an email to the Dallas Morning News, refusing to apologize for running up the score in a 100-0 win against Dallas Academy.

“It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition,” said the statement, signed by Kyle Queal, head of school, and board chair Todd Doshier.  

A parent who attended the game said Covenant continued to make 3-pointers — even in the fourth quarter. She praised the Covenant players but said spectators and an assistant coach were cheering wildly as their team edged closer to 100 points.