Not finished her career as a basketball player.
Just her career as a middle school one.
We attended her winter sports awards banquet this week.
Her coach, you know,
She spoke about their dedication,
their positive attitudes,
their bond to each other and her.
Then, through tears, this
precious,
young,
beautiful,
VERY FEMININE
female coach spoke of being a middle school girl
more importantly
a middle school girl who chooses to be a jock.
You know, it hit me for the first time.
I never really thought about that being hard for any of the girls.
They wore it so well.
Some of them at almost a foot taller than their male peers.
But when I saw their faces as the coach spoke, I realized
it was hard.
And that coach knew it in a way that only a former middle school girl jock could know it.
She gave them words of encouragement from her heart
as well as other basketball greats.
Like this one from NBA coach Phil Jackson:
"Love is the force that ignites the spirit and binds teams together."
And oh, how this team loved one another.
And oh, how this team loved one another.
Then she called the girls by name
one at a time
to come up to the front of the room.
You see, at the beginning of the season, Coach asked the girls what theme they would like to name all their plays (states, presidents, candy, etc.).
The girls chose princesses.
I did love seeing the faces of the opposing team when they would holler out
"Rapunzel"
or
"Gisele"
or
"Cinderella".
Even in their
tall
strong
competitive bodies
they all just wanted to be princesses.
Coach recognized that and crowned them appropriately.
The girls beamed
in that 4-year-old-look-at-me-twirling-my-pretty-new-dress way
and I was so thankful for that coach
and so proud of her for passing on what maybe she didn't get when she was in middle school
that I thought my overflowing heart
just
might
burst.
Every single one of them are gorgeous. |
Coach and McDaniel being silly. |
After the awards, it was time for the parent vs. daughter basketball game.
(More on that later. Stay tuned.)
But I wanted to show you this picture of that game.
Look at the girl in the pink t-shirt.
She is
still
wearing
her tiara.
Princesses play basketball.
Don't you just love that??!!
Karmen,
ReplyDeleteThis touches my heart in so many ways. How fortunate for McD and those girls to have a coach that honors them in this way. What a blessing! Thanks for sharing. xoGretchen