Victory doesn’t mark a champion

The South Lafourche boys’ basketball team will not win the Class 5A State Championship in the 2014-15 season.

In fact, barring a near-miracle run in the back half of the district season, the team will not even make the playoffs.

It’s been a tough go for the Tarpons this season. At the beginning of the year, the team’s starting point guard quit the team. He was arguably South Lafourche’s best player.

At midseason, injuries started to pile up. The Tarpons’ new point guard blew out his knee and is now out for the year. To make matters worse, right around the time that he was injured, South Lafourche lost a few players to academic issues, creating a perfect storm where a once-deep roster was now razor thin.

That’s not a good recipe for a boys’ basketball team that competes in a brutally tough district that features beastly programs like Central Lafourche, East St. John and other playoff-bound foes.

As a result, the Tarpons have struggled. In the first round of district play, they posted just a 1-6 record, which washed away a 6-7 non-district record for the team.

Coach Brian Callais is a tactician of the sport – very few work harder than he does to get his team in a position to win. Simply put, he’s a great coach. He and his staff have spent long hours trying to find the magical mix to bring this team to the playoffs, but for whatever reason, the ball has always seemed to bounce the other way.

But sometimes in sports, the true tale of a champion lies deeper than how often you win and lose on the scoreboard.

Sometimes, the true measure of athletic success comes in terms of how many people you impact and how many you leave a positive imprint on.

By that metric, there is no way to question the fact that Tarpons basketball is in good hands. There’s no way that anyone can dispute that the South Lafourche basketball program is one anchored on the foundations of class, esteem and integrity.

I know that everyone from Houma-Thibodaux’s alarm sirens are now blaring and you’re calling me a homer.

Yes, I attended South Lafourche and graduated from the school in 2005, but hear me out – I have a few examples that illustrate the points I’m about to make.

In late December, Callais and his team competed in the E.D. White Basketball Tournament – an event that always is popular locally because it’s sort-of the last big-time event before the start of district play.

On Dec. 27, the Tarpons opened up play at the event by beating South Terrebonne 55-50. They had a day off on Dec. 28 and were set to play E.D. White on Dec. 29.

In the day off, Callais, his staff and his players got an idea. Knowing that Cardinals’ junior student and basketball player Bradley Hamilton has been battling leukemia, the team decided to go home that night with a clear mission: to ask as many of their friends, family and neighbors for money to donate to St. Jude’s Hospital in Hamilton’s name.

The next day, Callais and the Tarpons showed up to Thibodaux and lost 52-34 to the Cardinals. But the team didn’t go home losers on this day. What they did after the game spoke louder than any scoreboard ever could.

After the final buzzer sounded, they presented $750 to E.D. White High School to honor Hamilton’s fight.

When asked about the donation and effort, Callais said it was a no brainer, questioning why other programs around the area hadn’t been doing the same all season. He said that he wishes he and his team would have had a few more days so that their donation could have exceeded $1,000.

Cardinals’ coach Jonathan Keife was stunned at the thought that went behind the donation. He called it one of the most genuine gestures he’s ever seen in his time as a coach.

“We’ve always respected Brian and his program, but that’s on a new level now,” Keife said. “To raise that much money is very special. We’re grateful, for sure. That’s class right there – true class.”

The next act I’d like to talk about hit me close to my heart.

As many people in this community know, I am a youth sports coach within the South Lafourche Biddy Basketball program.

This past year, I have been blessed with the opportunity to coach our U8 team into the All-Star season.

For those not aware of sports lingo, U8 means that my age group is children who are 8 and under. Of course, that means that I have the youngest bunch in the organization – the next generation, so to speak.

On Jan. 25, I was actually at a Biddy Basketball function when my phone started to buzz.

I picked it up, and it was a text message from Callais with an invitation.

He invited our 13 young men to the Tarpons’ Jan. 27 home game with Hahnville, touting that it’d be a good opportunity to do something to honor our kids.

We accepted, but didn’t truly know what to expect.

The experience was something that our young men likely will not forget – now or ever.

Throughout the night, our boys were treated like gold. At the admissions gate, they were accepted in free of charge. Before the game, we were able to go into the locker room with the Tarpons’ varsity team.

While there, Callais spoiled our boys with t-shirts, cups and megaphones.

As the game was getting ready to get started, our 13 guys were able to run out with the team to kick off their pre-game warmups. With big, wide eyes, they ran – as hard as they could. Down the baseline and into the hall, they sprinted. I’ve coached a lot of these kids for upwards of four months now. It was the fastest I’ve ever seen them run in the entire season. Once all together in the hall, young Evan Louviere described it best.

“That was awesome,” he said.

After the warmups, we sat behind the team’s bench and the kids rooted the Tarpons on as best as they could.

South Lafourche won 47-36 on that night, defeating Hahnville to earn their first district win of the season.

After the game, Callais invited the team back into the locker room. As-if the night wasn’t already memorable enough, his opening postgame remarks weren’t addressed to his victorious team, but were instead pointed to the kids – thanking them for their support.

“These guys came here, were loud and helped us get this win,” Callais said. “I want you all to stand up and give them an ovation because they did a great job tonight.”

The Tarpons’ varsity players clapped loudly – filling the locker room with exuberance.

Our players left the gym feeling special – feeling like they were a part of something bigger than themselves.

The prep basketball season has about three weeks to go, and in the coming three weeks, a lot of the focus will be on the district standings, the playoff brackets and then the chase to the state championships.

And while all of those things are nice, sometimes there’s a little bit more that goes into being a winner.

To me, the actions of Callais and his program in the past few weeks show me that he and his team are championship material – no matter what the scoreboard may say on a given day.

Class like that deserves to be recognized.

The South Lafourche Biddy Basketball U8 All-Star boys’ basketball team was treated to a night of fun at the South Lafourche boys’ basketball game this past Tuesday. Sports Editor Casey Gisclair said Tarpons’ coach Brian Callais and his staff are running a classy program in Galliano, touting that South Lafourche’s 2014-15 season is a success, no matter what struggles the team may be having on the basketball floor. 

COURTESY PHOTO