Someone is ALWAYS going to ask you. The little old man at church, the homeschool moms that don’t follow your team too closely. Or the guy in the checkout lane that noticed you’re wearing your team gear.
“How’d the season go?!”
Maybe you wanna shout it out in joy. Maybe you’re full of regrets or “what ifs” from the season.
But no matter your team record, this time of year is a great time to reflect on your season and look forward to your future.
Is your record 9-0?! Nicely done! You’re headed into playoffs! Maybe it was all grand, maybe it was too much pressure! But seriously, great work!
Is your record 0-9?! Nicely done! Go do something fun and get your mind off the season. (More on this in a bit, but I have serious respect for you. I’ve been close with a 1-8 season with my coach and KNOW it’s rough.) And IF your coach is like mine and he will be going to someone else's playoff game next week, give him a kiss and try to conceal your eye roll as he heads out the door with the boys to endure watching the painful next few weeks. These seasons are ROUGH, but you did awesome and you made it. He’ll be back home with you on weekends before you know it!
And to the majority of us with records “in-the-middle”—Many of you are going on into playoff season, many of you are not. I still really don’t understand ALL the science that makes a team playoff bound.
There are also those teams out there going to playoffs based on having incredible mascots, amazing team colors, and the most spectacular bands/cheer/dance teams. No, okay, I may have made that last group up. (Confession time, this may be how a good portion of my March madness bracket is filled out. I’m a sucker for cool colors and mascots.)
No matter how much longer your team will play, and no matter when you win or lose, you’ve done great.
But most of all, THIS SEASON DOES NOT DEFINE YOU.
The 0-9 team has my respect because you still showed up when you knew it would be a tough year. Everyone would pick to coach the 9-0 team if given the opportunity. But you still made it to the end, showed up, and battled.
According to Google, there are more than 16,000 high school football teams in the United States. When I looked up info on the Max Preps site, I found roughly 462 state champions (including 6 man and ALL divisions for each state) from 2018. That would mean there are around 15,538 teams out there who did NOT win the “state champion” title this past year.
Whether or not your team gets to have a state title ring will not secure an eternal job, a perfect family, or integrity. Winning a ring won’t make life easy forever. We always say it’s more than winning or losing a game.
You are not defined by the wins or losses. You’re investing into young men. That’s kingdom work for a risen king who wore a crown of thorns. And that crown is infinitely more profound than any state title ring. THAT is the crown to be known and defined by.
So fight the fight; it’s crunch time. Time to finish strong! We are rooting for you. Win. Go for the Gold. Go all the way! Bring home the trophy/rings!
But if you don’t go ALL the way, you’re still a sister and brother of a true king. And that crown of thorns will be traded in for something eternally amazing. And I’ll definitely still be your coaching wife friend ... especially if your team wears pink.