I have a friend, one that I first met and chatted with online but that I have since met in real life, whose son’s football team was making a run for the NYSPHSAA championship. I have followed Dad’s posts on Facebook about wins in various games and it has taken me back.
Tonight, even though I have no connection at all to the community, I watched as the Groton Indians played the Randolph Cardinals in Rochester in the western Class D semi-final. My heart goes out to those kids who suffered their second loss of a fantastic season tonight. Losing is hard but it is a necessary lesson in life, as well as in competition.
I am taken back to the 2003-04 school year. My son was on the Maine-Endwell football team. The team had won several Class A Section 4 titles. They were good but not great. They made a run that year but fell short in the semi-final game.
The next year, my son was a senior on the team. There was a new head coach. The head coach had been the middle school principal previously. He retired from that but took the part-time coaching position. The team had lost a lot of players but had many good ones left. The season started and ended in the Carrier Dome on the campus of Syracuse University.
The kids on that 2004-05 school year team will never forget that run. They played every game with heart and were the Class A State Champions. Every game was one to remember.
November 20th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Just the fact that you would do that is proof: you are good people.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Great Post Nicki. Groton did have a great year, and it will be something they always remember.
November 21st, 2009 at 12:10 am
TKW – Thanks! Come visit again!!!
Steve – The kids will look back many times on this season. Trust me. BTDT.
November 21st, 2009 at 1:04 pm
I am very proud of the Groton football team, however I am not so proud to their community. After two incredible wins in the championship series their community had no problem meeting them outside of town with every available emergency vehicle, sirens blaring, to escort them back into town. Last night, after a difficult loss, their trip into town was silent. It is unfortunate that this small town can not see past their single-minded win/lose mentality to see what phenomenal feat these boys accomplished despite incredible economic, social, and academic boxes they have to climb out of in order to achieve. In my mind, last night should have been the largest ticker tape parade this town has ever seen. In my mind, there may be only one winner in this contest, but there are several champions. Let’s teach our children the value of incredible achievement despite overwhelming adversity.