Thursday, May 27, 2010

Go, team.


I'm still on a high after learning that my niece's high school soccer team won the Colorado state final last night. This comes on the heels of her younger sister placing second in the state double finals two weeks earlier. Someone asked me where these remarkable athletes came from.

You have to know I'm not a sports fan. I spent much time in the basketball gym and Little League field watching my son play and enjoyed that. I like going to the occasional live baseball game but I don't follow any teams or watch sports on TV. This puts me in a distinct disadvantage in my family where even my Grandmother would pass time in the nursing home watching golf.

In fact, I'm not even a fan of organized sports for kids. I think parents have done much harm in getting in between their kids and the games they like to play. I think that injuries among our high school athletes is a sure sign that we are asking too much from these not nearly developed bodies. I worry that an overemphasis on competition and winning is creating a bunch of selfish jerks.

At least that's what I believed until I met the members of the Fairview High School Soccer Team. These girls are lovely. Their grades are stellar. Their commitment to each other is unsurpassable. By asking so much of themselves, and by relying on each other when times got tough, these girls achieved their four-year goal - to win a state championship, the first one in their school's history.

They sacrificed time, energy, other pursuits to play soccer. Yet many of them maintained high averages while taking upper level classes and all the seniors are college bound. They made true and lasting friendships.

I'm beginning to see the value in sports. Go, team.

7 comments:

Peggy said...

We loved seeing our children involved in sports, making friends with like interests, keeping themselves fit, working off energy that could otherwise be wasted in non-profitable pursuits. Like you, I'm not much of a sports fan, but certainly learned all I could about the ones our children were in so that I could encourage them and share in their enthusiasm. Consequently - I've now become a bit of a soccer nut, even planning on watching the World Championship coming up in June.

Linda O. Johnston said...

I'm not much of a sports fan, either, Terri. But I certainly became one when my sons were on various teams when they were younger! Congrats to your nieces.

signlady217 said...

My husband's niece plays volleyball, and she loves it. She's pretty good, too. Her team took second at their tournament in April, and they only lost by one point (the tie-breaker). Her brother has been some involved in football and soccer, but he focused more of his time on scouting, and he made Eagle Scout at 16! So we are pretty proud of both of them. If we lived close by, I know we would be at as many of their games as possible.

Camille Minichino said...

I'm glad you found this, Terri.

My experience in every school system I've been in has been much less favorable, with unhealthy competition, favoritism to athletes, and hiring coaches first, teachers second, or, worse, having coaches teach academic subjects they know nothing about.

I'm glad there's a place where this is not the rule. Congratulations to your niece!

Dru said...

I'm not a sports fan, although I'll root for my home town team if they are in the post season.

Congrats to your niece's team.

Terri Thayer said...

My overall experience with her high school graduation and soccer tournament was such a positive one, it's been very inspiring. A welcome relief to what we hear on TV about this generation of kids.

Thanks, all.

Terri Thayer said...

My brother kept mentioning this World Championship thingy, Peg. Not sure I'm that committed!