Transition News

To give you an idea of the caliber of individuals we have working for us at Red Rock, let me tell you about what I saw last evening at a JV basketball game while sitting in the stands of Dixie High School's gym.

I spotted him right away, standing in a huddle with five young women dressed out in basketball uniforms with the word "Falcons" emblazoned on their silky black jerseys. The man who had their attention was Melvin Lowe.

Melvin is our weekend supervisor and he's been working in youth services in one capacity or another for about as long as I have. He lives about an hour away in Cedar City, Utah, where there's still snow on the ground. When he's not at campus on Red Rock, making sure everything is running smoothly on the weekends, he's coaching sports for the Canyon View High School Falcons.

Last week Melvin pulled me aside and told me "his girls" were scheduled to play Dixie High School's JV basketball team next Tuesday--which was last night-- and if I could arrange it, he'd love for my Trans students to come and root for his team. In addition to providing his team with a needed cheering section for the game, he thought it would also be nice for our kids to see another aspect of his life which they've him talk about but have never witnessed for themselves. I told him "We'll be there."

What a game! Our Trans students whooped and hollered for the Falcons from the moment the clock started running until the last second and because the teams were so evenly matched the excitement and suspense seemed to grow steadily through out the game, reaching a screaming crescendo in the final seconds, when Canyon View swished a game winning free throw to take the win, 26-24!

Enthusiastic regardless of who was in the lead, or by how far, it was easy to see, even from across the court where we were seated, that Melvin believed in his girls, and that they believed in him. If they began to stall, or lose focus, they answered his pleas by holding their hands higher on the defense and acting more like birds of prey when they were under the net, fighting for the ball. Lessons learned by hours of practice in and out of the gym was being put to the test, and the one that his girls seemed to know by heart was how to put themselves back into the game by "digging" a little deeper, summoning the discipline and courage to "rebound" from a referees arguable call, missed shots etc., when it would have been far easier to let the voice of discouragement have the last word. It was also apparent that these young women knew each other's strengths, and they played to them--moving the ball up and down the court against a determined Dixie team, dribbling, passing, never panicking, working the ball to whoever was in the best position to score, and so on and so forth, until the last whistle. Boy, did we get out money's worth! I only hope our Trans students saw what I saw: a hands down text book example of inspired leadership and never-say-die teamwork--a pair of symbiotic character traits that each of them are still trying to fit into and model for their peers, and for the world beyond...

As you know, PPC, (which defines our program's therapeutic culture), when distilled down to it's simplest terms, is all about the practice of teaching our students to lead by example. Clearly, the young women on Melvin's team are benefitting from that concept much in the same way as our students are here, albeit in a less concentrated form. Although it may take a while to detect a comparison between the the objectives for a sports program and a rehab program, the means by which they are both achieved is plainly the same, i.e., the wise application of principled energy, unwavering purpose, and lots of love for the game(of life) and for one another.

That'w what we saw on the court last night, and that's what I'm sure Melvin wanted us to see.

**Editors Note**
This story was written on 2/10, all dates relative