Dance Nationals

I am writing this story to express the important value of sportsmanship. A while ago, my traveling dance team participated in a nation wide dance competition. This competition is very hard and the atmosphere is far from friendly. As we walked off stage after completing our dance, the next competing team snickered at us and gave us dirty looks as we passed them. They looked straight at us, made fun of our costumes and our dance. My team and I were all very upset about it... Even to the point of tears. One of my team members suggested that we "boo" the team as they went on stage. Finally I spoke up and said, "let's teach them a lesson..." My teammates all looked up at me. I was the oldest on the team and their role model. What I said next totally shocked them-they did not believe their ears. I said, "They are on stage right now, let's go and cheer them on instead." I then looked up at the stage and started to cheer, screaming, "Let's go team." My teammates started to cheer with me. At first they were reluctant, then I noticed that they were having fun cheering for a team that a couple of minutes ago they hated.
When the team finished dancing and walked of stage, my teammates and I all started to congratulate them on their awesome dance performance. Most members of the opposite team smiled and said "thank you" (they were a little embarrassed). My team and I felt a whole lot better about the situation. Later that week at practice my teammates expressed what a great idea that was and that they were grateful that they had good sportsmanship and decided to "cheer" for the team instead of "boo" them.

Submitted by Anonymous

Sportsmanship