Sometimes, you are given the gift of losing. It doesn’t feel like a gift, but it is. Sometimes the gift is huge. So huge that you get to lose the state championship…twice…in two years…to the same team. But I offer this. You get so much more from losing than winning. Especially if you’ve worked as hard as the Lady Bearcats did. Especially if you wanted it as much as our girls did. Especially if the Lady Bearcats played stronger on that day. The fact is, the hard-working team from Evansville Mater Dei got one goal in 80 minutes, and the Lady Bearcats did not. But man, did you shine! Let me tell you what I saw.

I saw a team that played hard together. A team that fought back from injury. A team that lifted each other up. I watched my own daughter fight hard to get back to her best playing condition, after a heart wrenching injury last November in basketball. After that broken ankle, surgery, weeks in a cast, weeks in physical therapy, and months fighting to feel normal on that ankle with its reduced flexibility and its occasional pain. I saw you play through a freezing rainy sectional championship. I knew you could feel the screw left in that ankle during that type of weather. I couldn’t see any difference in your playing.

I saw a team that held hands and prayed with a Christian school after the other school lost to us at Regionals. How awesome to behold from a losing team. But, also, how awesome to behold in a public school honoring the traditions of a Christian school. It didn’t matter who each girl prayed to out there. It didn’t even matter if some girls didn’t believe in prayer. What mattered was that each girl honored the other girls. The girls from Lakeland Christian honored our girls by praying for our continued health and strength during our advance. Our girls honored Lakeland Christian by standing by them as they exercised their belief. It was a moment.

I watched as you girls collapsed on the field in defeat. But then the magic happened. You got up. You hugged each other. It didn’t matter if you played in the game or supported you team from the sidelines. You lost as a team. You cried as a team. You dusted yourselves off, wiped your tears, and told the other team, “good game.” For it was indeed a good game. You thanked the refs. Then you went back to supporting each other. You already knew how to win. Now, you know how to lose. Hold your head high, remember these years of playing together, know you fought oh so hard, and take another step into tomorrow. There will be some disappointments in life. Now, you know how to handle them. Because I just watched you handle this. I watched Coach Murray and Coach Eveland act with class and be an example. That is true coaching.

What a team! What a year! This type of thing only comes together sometimes.