The Blown-Out Sneaker

Our decision of whether to jump on someone else's terrible luck can be incredibly revealing of our own character.

January 26, 2023

On Sunday night, a pair of New York-area high school basketball powers were set to square off on national television when a bizarre mishap occurred in warmups.

The size 17 sneaker of a player from Archbishop Stepinac unexpectedly blew out — meaning the Crusaders would be without one of their top players for a game with major local and national rankings implications on ESPNU.

Rival Christ the King High School appeared to have caught a big break.

But when Christ the King Coach Joe Arbitello learned about what happened, he searched around and found sneakers for the rival player to wear — a selfless gesture considering the stakes of the matchup.

“When’s the last time he got to play on national television?" Arbitello told The Daily Coach. "Now he’s not going to get to play because his shoe blew up? I think it’d be ridiculous to not give him a pair of shoes.”

There’s a key lesson in Arbitello’s sneaker gesture.

Many of us as leaders view our competition as the ultimate enemy and will pull no punches in our efforts to defeat it.

But at a certain point, perspective and maturity have to be more important than gaining a little extra edge over the opponent. Our decision of whether to take advantage of and capitalize on someone else's terrible luck can be incredibly revealing of our own character.

And doing the right thing should never be about the stakes of a game or what it says on the scoreboard. 

The Stepinac player would go on to score 12 points and grab eight rebounds in his team’s 68-64 win over Arbitello’s team. But the coach said he wouldn’t hesitate to lend a helping hand again.

“In life, you need to see the bigger picture, not just a win or a loss," Arbitello said.

"At the end of the day, there’s a human element to it.”  

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