During the Little League Southwest Region championship in Waco, Texas, a 12-year-old batter from Oklahoma made an incredible gesture after a sporting accident.
When pitcher Kaiden Shelton from the Texas East Little League threw the ball at Isaiah Jarvis, he accidentally hit him in the head. Both Jarvis and his helmet fell to the ground. Seeing the injury he’d caused, Shelton was distressed.
Thankfully Jarvis got back up, much to the relief of the crowd and Shelton. However, when play resumed, Shelton was still visibly shaken. So, without thinking of his sore head, Jarvis stepped off his bag and walked towards the mound to give Shelton a hug to reassure him that he was okay.
The reason behind his gesture was equally impressive, as Jarvis shared with CNN’s New Day:
“I wanted to go over there and spread God’s love and make sure that he’s OK, and make sure that he knows that I’m OK and that I’ll be OK.”
The gesture was greatly appreciated by Shelton, who said: “It felt like he cared. I also cared about him, and that just showed that baseball is sportsmanship — there’s a lot of sportsmanship in baseball.”
After the game Jarvis was left with a small bruise. But he’s also bemused by all the attention his kindness garnered:
“It’s really crazy,” the gentlemanly batter said. “Like, who would have thought, like, one hug would go this crazy, you know? That just proves, do nice things and you’ll get rewarded, I guess.”
And for Shelton he believes there’s a great lesson for us all:
“I think the lesson is that you should care for other people. Like if they’re down, you should just care for them, try to build them up.”
It’s not a surprise that Jarvis’ kindness impressed all those who saw it. Hopefully this very sporting act will encourage others — young and old — to remember what is the most important thing about taking part in a sporting competition, and to always show kindness to those in need, on and off the field.
Take a moment to see this kindness in action:
