It was cold. If you're a parent or a coach, you know the Law of Ball Fields: No matter what the temperature is at home, it's always 20 degrees colder at a ball field. (This switches when the weather is sweltering.) Last night was no exception.
The small crowd at Belleville West High School shivered and huddled under blankets and coats. (This school is Home of the Maroons--we wondered what the mascot looks like. Are they simply a piece of maroon paper? Is the mascot a giant maroon crayon? We never found out.)
I came to watch a former student play lacrosse. As a first-time watcher, I was fascinated by the game. Those girls were amazing in their ability to hurl a small ball across a field to a teammate... the teammate then snagged the ball and kept it in a small net as they ran, their stick held upright.) She wasn't hard to keep track of. Elizabeth is incredibly tiny (I think she's under 5 feet tall) with blonde hair and blue legs. (Well, I imagine they were blue. Those girls wore shorts--and the majority wore no leggings or sweatpants under them.)
What remained long after the game was over was Elizabeth's spirit. Her fierce competitiveness. Like a wolverine, she kept preying on her opponents. Every minute of the game she was nipping at their heels. Or she was waiting for the enemy to race into her territory. Or she was standing on the sidelines (never sitting on the bench), poised... ready to get called back in--and all the while she was watching the game, her eyes darting from player to player.
The same spirit was exhibited in the classroom and the playground. Elizabeth was extremely competitive (with herself) when it came to academics, and she was her fiercest when it came to other students and her teachers. If a peer was being ostracized or a teacher was being disrespected, she couldn't help it: her claws would come out, her blue eyes would turn red and (almost literal) steam would shoot out of her ears. She never backed down, no matter how unpopular it made her with her classmates.
Getting the privilege to know young people like this... teens who will soon be leading our country--is one of the many perks of being a teacher.
I love your comparison. She sounds like an amazing student who was fortunate enough to have an amazing teacher willing to brave the cold in order to cheer her on!
ReplyDeleteYay for kids like her who are willing to take a stand and give it their all. You just know you will read about her in a positive way in the future.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could keep track of them all! I often wonder what kids are up to :)
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah, I do NOT miss watching sports, huddled under blankets. I do miss watching all that fierceness and explosive joy on the field, especially when it's a team playing with that all-for-one, one-for-all spirit!
ReplyDeleteLove that story. It reminds me of my niece, a fierce little dynamo who now plays college soccer.
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