RA! A great sports story!

Greetings, I wanted to share with you a story about our basketball teams this week. Last week, our team experienced the worst environment ever. Our girls were pushed and punched during play and after whistles. They were called, "Nigger," "Bitch," and "whore." This continued into the boys varsity boys game. I was in Atlanta and was unable to attend that game as I normally do. However, our varsity boys coach immediately called me following the game. He is a black man, and he told me it was the worst racist environment in which he had ever been--including his days as a high school and college player. After my conversation with our coach, I immediately filled a complaint with the AISA, and I told them it would be followed by a formal complaint signed by our principal. We expressed to the AISA that Restoration Academy will not tolerate this behavior by any opposing school, and we asked for a formal investigation and appropriate penalties be awarded to the opposing school. During the preparation of our formal complaint, I watched video of the girls game and noticed one thing in particular. One of our girls, Kendall Smih, was pushed to the ground by an opposing player. No foul was called; however, Kendall did not respond to the girl. In fact, later in the game, Kendall helped one of the opposing team's girls to her feet after she fell. Over the years, both in football and basketball, I have constantly seen our kids demonstrate this sportsmanship when in difficult situations. Because we were going to play this team again last night in our gym, we met with our athletes this week. I asked them specifically pointed to Kendall's actions and asked everyone to demonstrate that kind of class, and let us fight for them with the AISA. I expressed to them how their appropriate response to inappropriate behavior would help us build our case with the AISA. Even though I knew it would be extremely difficult, especially for young people, I could see it in their eyes; they were going to outclass the opposing team. What happened last night? Here is what I saw. During the JV game, I saw one of our students, Deon Calhoun, pick up one of the opposing team's players after he fell to the ground. I saw our girls channel all of their frustration from last week to their effort in playing last nights game. During the controversial game from last week, our girls lost by 20 points. However, this week, the girls lost by 4 and was actually tied with the opposing team with just a couple of minutes left. Once again, one of their players swung a fist at one of our players, and once again, our girls did not respond in a negative way. Our varsity boys beat their team badly during the controversial game last week. So how did our coach respond after suffering the most racist environment he had ever experienced? He played our second and third string more than he did the first string. And the absolute pinnacle of Restoration Academy class came toward the end of the game. The opposing team had a mentally challenged young man on their team. Their coach put him in the game late. The young man actually hit a 3 pointer. Our students and parents cheered about as loud for him as I have ever heard them cheer. This moment was actually captured on video and will be added to You Tube soon. I will let everyone know when it is available. I try not to make statements like this in public; however, I am going to do it anyway. You will not find a better administration, better teachers, better coaches, or certainly a better student body anywhere in this city. I am so proud of our teachers, administration, coaches, and our students. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.