I coach our 6th grade football team. Early in the season, one of our players had to quit because his Grandma had breast cancer and his Grandpa was just diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. On his own, this 12yr old decided to quit football and help the family (wish they were all like him).
Our team was pretty shook up. They came to me before a game and asked if they could put pink duct tape on their cleats. They wore the pink tape in every game since. Our local newspaper caught wind of the team and wrote an article on the front page. We made the championship game and the young man was there. I asked him if he had seen the paper...he said No. He had not been to any other games until now. He told his dad to go get a paper. Evidently, dad called mom from the parking lot and told the family to come to the car. They found dad sobbing in the car and the whole family read the article and cried.
Attached is the newspaper article, some pics, and below is the email. I am blessed to be their coach.
When you make a sudden and drastic move to a town where you know no one you often ask yourself “have a I done the right thing?” What my son’s football team did for him throughout this season, and especially this past Saturday reassured every bone in my body that we moved to the right town. When he started the season my mother had breast cancer, then just as the season kicked off my father-in-law (Darrell) was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. Sid made the difficult decision to quit football so he could help Frank with Darrell’s ranch, sit with him during chemotherapy sessions and take the extra burden of making it to all of those practices and games off of us. When the coach told the team they took it pretty hard and they were very supportive of Sid’s decision. Frank and Sid were only able to make it to one game early in the season so they didn’t see that they were taping their shoes. It was not until Frank and Sid arrived at the playoff game Saturday that they saw the shoes, not only of the football players but the cheerleaders as well, taped up. Sid went over to the huddle to wish them good luck and Coach Gene told Frank to go buy a paper. Frank ran and bought one and that is where we saw this article, which moved me to tears in an instant! To think that 6th grade boys would do that for a teammate who has only lived here for 1 year. I know how 6th grade boys are I live with one every day…hehe!
This act of kindness has changed our lives forever. I will never forget it, Sid will never forget it, and I even though my mom and Darrell don’t personally know all of these boys, they will never forget it.
When you are discouraged about the world we live in read this story! I am still floored – it just gives me goosebumps…
Our team was pretty shook up. They came to me before a game and asked if they could put pink duct tape on their cleats. They wore the pink tape in every game since. Our local newspaper caught wind of the team and wrote an article on the front page. We made the championship game and the young man was there. I asked him if he had seen the paper...he said No. He had not been to any other games until now. He told his dad to go get a paper. Evidently, dad called mom from the parking lot and told the family to come to the car. They found dad sobbing in the car and the whole family read the article and cried.
Attached is the newspaper article, some pics, and below is the email. I am blessed to be their coach.
When you make a sudden and drastic move to a town where you know no one you often ask yourself “have a I done the right thing?” What my son’s football team did for him throughout this season, and especially this past Saturday reassured every bone in my body that we moved to the right town. When he started the season my mother had breast cancer, then just as the season kicked off my father-in-law (Darrell) was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. Sid made the difficult decision to quit football so he could help Frank with Darrell’s ranch, sit with him during chemotherapy sessions and take the extra burden of making it to all of those practices and games off of us. When the coach told the team they took it pretty hard and they were very supportive of Sid’s decision. Frank and Sid were only able to make it to one game early in the season so they didn’t see that they were taping their shoes. It was not until Frank and Sid arrived at the playoff game Saturday that they saw the shoes, not only of the football players but the cheerleaders as well, taped up. Sid went over to the huddle to wish them good luck and Coach Gene told Frank to go buy a paper. Frank ran and bought one and that is where we saw this article, which moved me to tears in an instant! To think that 6th grade boys would do that for a teammate who has only lived here for 1 year. I know how 6th grade boys are I live with one every day…hehe!
This act of kindness has changed our lives forever. I will never forget it, Sid will never forget it, and I even though my mom and Darrell don’t personally know all of these boys, they will never forget it.
When you are discouraged about the world we live in read this story! I am still floored – it just gives me goosebumps…
