My son rowed for a local club and his team was competing in a major competition two-thousand miles from our home in California. The boat of eight rowers had been gearing up for this one race for nine months. During that time they’d practiced three hours every day. They’d pull countless miles on indoor rowing machines, lifted weights and cross trained with yoga and running.

They put their boat in the water and as they rowed down the race course, warming up for the championship race, the final race of the regatta, another eight veered out of its lane and crashed into them. Collisions are rare in rowing but when they do happen they can be serious. One of the other boat’s rowers was hit on the head with an oar and was rushed to a hospital with a concussion. Fortunately, he checked out okay.

The collision created significant damage to my son’s boat, both to the riggers and to the boat’s exterior. Because we were far from home, we didn’t have our boat maintenance crew or proper materials to fix it. The officials delayed the race time for thirty minutes and said they couldn’t delay any more. We worried it wouldn’t be enough time to repair our boat.

Right away, six coaches from other teams approached our coach, carrying tool boxes and offering to help. Eight-man shells can cost upwards of forty thousand dollars. Not only are they expensive, but they’re delicate. Our coach spread borrowed epoxy over the damaged areas and one problem was solved. Next, he needed to fix our broken riggers. Another coach offered to loan us his riggers. Like a pit crew working on an Indy 500 car, the coaches unbolted broken riggers and installed replacements. Within twenty minutes, our team was ready to row.

The way that the other coaches pitched in and helped us was uplifting. It showed the best side of youth sports. It’s not about winning and losing, it’s about competing, about joining together and bringing out the best in all of us.