dear girls: {an open letter to my team}

{via buren foster photography}

i don't know how to start this year. i'm paralyzed by all the words floating in my head that just don't sound right.

how do you speak about the immense amount of pride you have for a team who worked their tails off all season only to come off on the wrong end of a 1-0 game in the state semi-final?

it's still fresh, and it still hurts.

it doesn't get easier to watch you girls hurt. it hurts, and it sucks for me, but it hurts more to see you hurt and know how much of yourselves you poured into this team and this season.

i know that right now the well-meaning consolations of "you still had a great season" don't do a whole lot to make you feel better. i know that right now some of you are not just heartbroken because it's the end of a season, but the end of a chapter of life. i know what it feels like to want it that much, and to come up short. and i'm sorry.
i'm just sorry.

it sounds terrible, but i'm glad it hurts right now. because that means it mattered. that means you invested all of yourselves in it. and that is how you should live your lives.

all in.
be all in.

live your lives like you play the game. pour yourself into it. don't get to the end and wonder if you could have given more.

we as coaches are so very proud of you. we are so very proud of how you came together as a team and put in the work day in and day out.

continue to put in the work. continue to work hard and persist because nothing that's worth having in life is easy. the hard is what makes it great. the hard is what makes it an achievement.

we're proud of the way you played. we're proud of the run we had.

of course we wanted one more game, but the lack of that game doesn't negate the rest of what you achieved.

seniors: we are so thankful for each one of you. they say you're only as tall as the shoulders you stand on, and every girl that comes through this program will forever be standing on your shoulders.
take that with you - leave each place better than you found it, and know that this place is better because you were here.

there's more i could say, but i'll leave it there for now.
thank you all for a tremendous season.

much love to you.

coach kate