I recently drove out to Elkridge, MD to watch my nephew Joe’s 95-pound football team play in a playoff game. The winner would advance to the “Mid-Maryland Super Bowl.”
When I arrived I was surprised to see most of my family in attendance. The game started slowly, with the score at 0-0 at halftime. Most of the entertainment came from my older sister Margaret, screaming for Joe’s team as loud as she could on every play. The intensity picked up during the second half and the Silver Spring Saints (Joe’s team) returned a punt for a touchdown. The other team drove down the field, but the Saints defense managed to stop them on the 10-yardline to seal their victory.
As the game came to its exciting close I was a little surprised to find myself joining my sister in screaming our fool heads off, rooting these 10-year-olds on to victory. As a matter of fact, the whole family was yelling enthusiastically, including my mother. We all greeted Joe after the game and congratulated him on the big win. I told him how proud I was of him, and as I reached down to shake his hand he surprised me by returning my handshake with a firm grip, looking me straight in the eye and thanking me for coming to see him play. Walking away, I couldn’t help but think about how well he was growing up. I was so glad I had made the trip.
This event reminded me of a story I shared last year around this time in another Words of Encouragement, about my friend Stu Plank:
Recently I had lunch with a fellow Virginia Tech Hokie Football alumnus, Stuart Plank. His brother, Kevin Plank, is the founder of the athletics apparel company Under Armour.
Stu is a muscular, physically imposing man who despite the cold had donned an Under Armour golf shirt. As soon as we sat down for lunch he started talking intensely about something that was on his mind. Waving his hands to accentuate his point, he asked me if in all my years of playing and coaching football I had ever gone undefeated. I told him no. Had I ever been on a championship team? Yes, in fact, I had. I started to ask where this was going, but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Had I ever been on a championship team that had also been undefeated? Nope. He said that fact didn’t surprise him, since that feat is so rarely accomplished.
Standing now he continued, arms flailing, voice rising: “In the history of the National Football League only one team has done it, the 1973 Miami Dolphins. Another team almost did it [the 2007 New England Patriots went 16-0 but lost the Super Bowl], but does anyone talk about them? I don’t think so.” Pausing to gather himself, he leaned across the table and asked, “How am I supposed to get a bunch of 9-year-olds to understand this?”
Stu went on to explain that he was coaching his son’s pee-wee football team this season, and they were undefeated and would be playing for the championship the following weekend. We both agreed they would remember this season and the championship game for the rest of their lives, but Stu wasn’t sure if they would be able to grasp the magnitude of their achievements.
I told Stu how I played on a team that won the 130-pound Catholic Youth Organization championship two years in a row. When I go to the Giant supermarket by my mother’s house in Leisure World there is an older gentleman cashier who never fails to ask me if that championship team was the best CYO team ever. I just wink at him and say, “Absolutely.”
While at my younger brother’s house for the Thanksgiving holidays I got a chance to read an old newspaper clipping that my mother had brought by to show everyone. It was about my brother’s St. Andrews 70-pound undefeated team that had won the CYO championship more than 40 years ago. He was mentioned as a key player on their stellar defense.
I asked my brother what he remembered about that championship season so long ago. He said all he remembered was how special it felt. Through fourteen more years playing football and later rugby at the college level, he never again experienced that unique feeling of being undefeated at the end of a championship season.
Stu’s team went on to win their “Super Bowl.” After the game he delivered a speech about how the players “will remember this day the rest of your lives.” He said during his speech there were a lot of blank stares from the youngsters, but he looked in the back of the room and noticed the parents getting emotional and knew that they understood the importance of what the team had achieved. In time, he realized, so would the young men who were responsible for that feat. One day his statement would resonate with the team as well.
We’re coming up on the Thanksgiving holiday. In spite of the tough economic times we all have so much to be thankful for. If you have a chance, visit with a young person you know and take the time to listen to them and encourage them. It could mean a lot to them, and I know it will mean a lot to you.
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Have a great weekend,
Ro