His opponent for the first match was nearly 10 minutes late. The tournament director called both kids over; I was watching from a distance, but I knew what the director was talking about.My son ended up losing the match. I didn’t say anything critical or judge his performance. He told me, “The director said that since my opponent was 5 minutes late, he lost the toss and would be penalized one game. He asked if I wanted to start at 1–0 or play a normal match, and I said normal match.” I didn’t criticize his decision at all. I just told him, “That was really great of you.”The next day, I texted the tournament director and asked him to vote for my son for the Sportsmanship Award as a reward for his character.Personally, when I play matches, I play to win—and I follow the rules strictly when an opponent is late. Once, when I was 14 minutes late, my opponent insisted I was 15 minutes late and claimed a default win. We ended up playing an exhibition match anyway, and I beat them regardless.I’m glad I didn’t project my own obsession with winning onto my son. The goodness in his heart is something that needs to be protected and praised.