It was a surprising end to the Fourth Baptist Christian School soccer season, with both my athletes bringing home awards from their coaches.
Asher – Junior High Soccer Unsung Hero Award
“He flies under the radar a little bit, but does a lot of things that really help us be successful. He moves the players around him. He helps to correct mistakes. Highly competitive role. Always knows what to do. He knows where to go. Always works very, very hard. He came through several times when we needed him and even a few times when we didn’t know we needed him with some very timely goals.”
Jude – Varsity High School Defensive Player of the Year Award
“This player wasn’t even a defender last year…he was a mid-fielder… . Early on in the season [Jude] said, “Coach, if defender is where you need me, then I’ll play there.” He played 80 minutes a game, often never coming out. He is left-footed so he plays on the left side. He is often playing against their strongest right-footed strikers. He shut down a lot of strikers this year.”
Jude’s award was very meaningful for me. I’ll never forgot when he his brain cancer came back and a doctor told me that he would “never be the best athlete or the most coordinated person.” I sat there quietly, vowing to do everything in my power to make her predictions not come true. My right-handed boy became left-handed/left-footed as a result of the left side brain tumors. Muscle memory issues have forced him to work harder than everyone else, but the main thing that cancer did to my boy was to make him resilient.