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When
she entered high school, it was pretty much expected that Jenny would
play for her school basketball team. Always in the back of her mind was
the cloud of conflict that games would inevitably be scheduled on the
Sabbath. That time came when she entered her sophomore year at Clark
County High School, located about 45 miles from Lexington, Kentucky—the
home of the University of Kentucky Wildcats.
Some
say that's the heart of basketball country. Jenny was a rising star in
a sport that made her name a household word in her community. But the
dreaded conflict reached Jenny, and she made a decision she believed
was irrevocable. She quit the sport she loved. She decided faith and
family were more important than basketball, even in Kentucky. Following
is an account of the tough decisions and why she did what she did through
high school and into college.
When her junior year in high school began, Jenny's coach asked her to return to the team. He was willing to work around her religious beliefs. He would not bench her for missing Friday night games. Miraculously, Jenny was again playing the game she loved. The local newspaper, The Winchester Sun, wrote glowingly of her achievements.
"Stewart missed Friday night's game because of her faith. The religion she practices observes the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday and it proscribes such activities during that time as basketball...
"Very few people in Norton Gym Monday night would have known that Stewart's 23-point performance against the Montgomery County High School Lady Indians in the opening round of the district tournament would be the last time she ever played on her home floor in a Lady Cardinal uniform.
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