Never Give Up (week 566)

Never, never, never give up.  I learned an important life-lesson this week about never giving-up hope.  Dad always says that sports are a great tool for teaching lessons about life; and although it is nice to win, the real value of sports is to push ourselves as people, as teammates, and as members of a community.  This season, both Christopher and I were members of great teams but Dad and Mom were most proud of the fact that we pushed ourselves, showed-up and played hard, and were good teammates. 

Christopher's team went into the final game undefeated, 9-0!  Everyone hoped that they could finish the season with a win and take the League Championship trophy.  It is hard to do--even harder in leagues like AYSO where there isn't a lot of experience and commitment from some of the players.  Both teams this year, however, had some good players and a lot of good parents that made sure to show-up and stay committed to the team.  We had a great deal of fun, and Chris had some great moments on the field where he ran hard, made some great passes, and almost scored some goals!  The Green Hornets lost their first game in the final game of the season and finished 3rd out of 23 teams!

After nearly 50 practices, scrimmages, warm-ups, and two seasons without losing a game during regulation, United was 8-0-1 (just a single tie) but was up against the ropes.  The team in second place was 9-1 (only having lost to us) and it was the final game of the regular season and the league championship was on the line.  Every team we played were giving us their best shot and we found a way to pull it out; but, we had never trailed going into the fourth quarter.  Down 2-1 in the first quarter, I had started to give-up and lose hope.  On the sidelines I was so frustrated that I was almost crying and sitting on the bench.  Our coaches told us that champions never give up and that someone would have to make the individual sacrifice to inspire the rest of the team.  Sometime in the middle of the 4th Quarter, Sammy Figeuroa (one of the most quite kids on the team), stuck his face into a big kick and got knocked out of the game.  Soon after, Dylan scored the game-tying goal and Tristan put us ahead with just a few minutes left.  We pulled out the win 3-2 and won the League Championship by a single point!