A good help

One of the most important plays in basketball is unknown to many of the fans, though a lot of matches are decided through its use.

We are talking about blocking, a help to the team-mate who is going to shoot. When an opposing player is marking you, your team-mate places himself in such a way to allow you the space to shoot with comfort.

The two points from the shot are yours, but half of the success belongs to your team-mate. ALONZO MOURNING, number 2 in the 1992 draft (later at Miami Heats) has been one of the bests blockers of the NBA.

When he was a child, Alonzo suffered physical abuse, until he was rescued by one woman, FANNY THEREET, who gave him shelter and took care of him, along with 48 other children. She was an essential help to his growing up.

In every team good help is very important. The same happens in life. But what so often happens instead, in our world, is that selfish ambition and rivalry is a day-to-day problem.

We are apparently so 'intelligent' that we have made a world in which selfish ambition is one of the most important characteristics in a person.

We have to struggle to reach ever higher targets, to produce more, to earn more, to have more than anyone else, and so we become like monsters, ready to trample on anyone in our way.

God is totally opposed to this kind of behaviour: he tells us not to do anything from selfish ambition. He asks us to be sincerely glad about others' success. He even requires us to help others to succeed.

God teaches us to laugh with the one who is laughing and to cry with the one who is crying. He teaches us to help others, to do everything possible so that others can achieve their aims.

If you fail to block for your team-mate, he will not be able to shoot. And neither will those two points come up for your team on the scoreboard. We can lose the match for lack of those two points, just because we refused to help.