To commemorate the last day of our basketball season, our athletic director arranged a friendly game for both the boy’s and girl’s team. As a member of the Athletic Council, I decided to be the scoreboard to help out the boy’s game. It is a very extraordinary experience as I’ve never been on the scoreboard before. Despite being a basketball player myself who is familiar with all the duration rules and foul regulations, being a scoreboard was not as easy as it appears to be. It requires fast reactions, multitasking skills,  extreme concentration, and so much more than a player on the court to be a decent scoreboard. This experience developed in me a deep respect for all the statisticians and helpers in a sports game. Their hard work truly deserves some recognition.

The most challenging part with being a scoreboard is the need to keep up with the shot clock and the game timer while keeping track of the fouls and points from each team. It was nearly impossible for me keep up with my friend’s conversation when my fingers were busy dancing around to reset and resume the 24-second shot clock while signaling to the referees the subs from each team. I wasn’t the perfect scoreboard either – made a few mistakes giving the teams a few more seconds on offense than what was allowed, forgot to give points to the home team for a second,  pressed the buzzer before the referee’s signal… – regardless, this was definitely an enlightening experience that allowed me to be more reflective and less critical. The importance of scoreboard and game helpers are oftentimes neglected and taken for granted in games. In almost every basketball game I’ve played in, we’ve joked about the scoreboard being slow on stopping the timer and mistaking personal and team fouls, not knowing until this experience that scoreboard is not as easy as pressing a few buttons. They’re the only ones without a single break in the entire game. When players are subbed off to take a breathe, when referees are chilling at the sideline before the game begins, when coaches are thanking the other team after the game, the scoreboard has to be there to organize the stats and reset the timer. Every role should be respected equally, and none of them should be taken for granted. Behind all the glamors, applause, and fame the MVP receives on the court are the scoreboard, helpers, coaches, assistant coaches, and trainers working tirelessly together to ensure the best game experience for the audience and for themselves. Scoreboarding this game for two hours has taught me more than anything I’ve learned on the court for the past four years. I will definitely take these revelations to the next level and make myself a more understanding, lenient, and better athlete.