the final year. an open letter to my girls:

to my team, my girls, every. single. one. of. you. -

thank you.
thank you for the privilege of coaching you this year, and for the last five years.
thank you for allowing me the space to teach you something about this game that i love so much.
but even more than this game, thank you for giving me a small space to be a part of your lives.

for my varsity girls: i know last night was heartbreaking in so many ways. it was for me too. i know that working for something for an entire season, or two or three or four {or five} entire seasons and falling short of your goal when it was right there is nothing less than devastating.

and it should be devastating. in a way it's good that it was devastating. because being devastated at the end of a long game and a long season that fell just short of what we all wanted and hoped and worked for - that means that it mattered. that means that you put every last ounce of yourselves into it and behind it. it means that you played courageously and you dared greatly and you made yourselves vulnerable.

that is what it means to be brave. 

and it is the only way to live your life. 

there is a quote that i didn't give to you before any of our games this season:

"if you don't invest very much, 

then defeat doesn't hurt very much, 

and winning isn't very exciting." 

{-dick vermeil}

i didn't give it to you because you didn't need the reminder. you were all 100% invested in this team. the end of the game and the season hurt a lot because you put all of yourselves into it. you invested all that you could.

i understand the desire to want to make it better right now. i want to make it better too. but it is okay to be sad. in a way it is good to be sad and to allow yourself to feel that at the end. to know that you poured yourself into it.

all that said, please allow yourselves to reflect on the season as a whole and see how far we've come. we had some tough tough games where things weren't clicking, and you guys kept fighting the whole way through. you didn't chalk it up to letting it be what it would be, you kept working every day, every practice, every game.

you bought in, and look how far it took us.
it took us to cusp, to the brink of a state championship.
to the unlucky side of a hard fought 1-0.
you propelled this team and this program another step further to the farthest point, and the farthest game we could possibly get to.

you are the shoulders for next year's team to stand on.
you are an incredible team, and i'm so grateful i had the chance to coach you.


to my jv girls: i am so proud of you girls. thank you for showing up and putting in the work with me each and every day.
thank you for your drive to keep getting better even when we weren't playing against the strongest of opponents.

thank you for letting me do what i could to strengthen your game and to make you better.
i hope you will remember how important it is to keep getting better. to push yourselves to be excellent even when good will do.

keep working on your core and your push-ups. keep working on your speed ladders. keep working on your mental toughness and your technique. keep watching the game and gaining a better understanding of all of the positions on the field. take ownership of where you are, and keep working to get better.

i am so proud of how far you've come as a team this year. i am proud of your resilience and your drive. keep going. keep working even when it's hard.


to each and every one of you: i have loved coaching you. i love each one of you, and i am grateful to have known you and coached you. i am grateful for the sacrifices you've made for this team and this game. i am incredibly proud of you girls. i am proud to be your coach, and i am proud of how much you've grown. keep growing.

please know that i'm willing to train any of you, and i'm here for each and every one of you even if i can't be on the sidelines with you anymore.

much love to you,

coach kate