Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 12, 1995                   TAG: 9506130014
SECTION: EDITORIALS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO COLUMN} MONTY S. 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TREMENDOUS

As in, "Wow! That was a tremendous play! Howard, did you see that?"

"Right, Joe. It'll be a long time before we see another play like that! Tremendous! Just tremendous!"

And as in, "Well, I tell you what, Hannah. Even though our team lost, those boys put forth a tremendous effort. I'm proud of 'em."

And, "She's a tremendous ath-a-lete. A fine girl, too. But really, a tremendous ath-a-lete."

A few weeks ago, before I put up my basketball goal, I asked my brother how high on the side of the barn it should be.

He found this tremendously funny.

"What?" I said. "What's funny?"

"I don't think there's much danger of you making the NBA," he laughed. "So what difference does it make if your goal's not regulation?"

Well, my goal is regulation. The cheapest regulation goal I could find. My basketball is regulation, too. Hand-signed by Karl "The Mailman" Malone.

But I have to admit my brother is right. There's not a really tremendous chance of me making the NBA. Or even the church league team, for that matter.

But it's always seemed to me that rules deserve a nod, at least, so my basketball goal is just where it's supposed to be.

And I'm make tremendous strides. Putting forth tremendous effort. I'd have to say, I have tremendous potential.

It's important to think you have tremendous potential, whether or not you do. Conviction of tremendous potential greatly enhances persistence.

Perhaps a belief in tremendous potential is the lesson learned from sports.

I've never played organized sports; where I attended high school, no organized sports were offered for girls.

Consequently, their benefits remain mysterious to me. What is it people mean when they say, "Playing sports taught me so much" or "I wouldn't be the person I am today if not for sports"?

Of course, well-coached sports teach cooperation and the unselfish pursuit of common goals. Sports teach hand-eye coordination. (As do typing, sewing and playing piano, by the way.) And sports can teach appropriate group behavior.

But, so what? A good kindergarten teacher, as Robert Fulghum has shown us, does the same.

Now that I have my basketball goal, I have a theory. I think all that "cooperation, sportsmanship, goal orientation" hooey regarding the benefits of sports is just one tremendous big smoke screen thrown up to disguise the fact that sports are fun.

Ath-a-letes have fun.

It's fun to sweat, to feel those muscles move. It's fun to see that ball whip through the net, or even near the net, and it's fun to try again.

It's really tremendous, the way you believe in your own potential every time you make a basket. The way you believe in it so much, in fact, that you can keep on throwing the ball, banging it off the side of the barn, until it's just too dark to see.

Monty S. Leitch is a Roanoke Times & World-News columnist.