Honor after Heartbreak, Soccer Style

I am going to break from our educational thread in this post. My blog has to do with the kind of education that does not necessarily take place within the walls of an institution. I am talking about the education that builds character. Our soccer team just experienced a surprisingly harsh loss in the Regionals that stopped its progress toward Nationals. Every player faced the defeat in a different way. I want to acknowledge one response in particular.

The Yavapai soccer team came on the home turf last Thursday night full of the confidence expected from the nationally ranked #1 team. The Phoenix team entered the stadium knowing this was their last shot at gaining a place in the Regional standings and a shot at the National Finals to be held here this month. The battle was on from the first kick with the two opposing teams going after the ball with the same goal, the National Finals. Both teams scrambled with Yavapai out-shooting the Bears, but the Bears gained the first goal early in the first half. Our team rallied and fought hard to get the tying goal at the end of the second half. Sudden Death--just one goal away from the win for either team. Both teams amassed down at the Yavapai goal, and in the chaos one shot found its mark. Phoenix won with a final score of  2-1.

What a heart-wrenching loss for us! In that split second of recognizing what had happened, some of our players fanned out on the field; some headed back to our bench. One player was kneeling with his head on the ground; another was laid out flat on the turf. Others were standing alone contemplating the significance of this loss. Meanwhile the Phoenix team ran together, creating a screaming mob of victors that roiled closer and closer to the bleachers filled with the Yavapai fans standing shocked that we had come so close to winning, as we always have, but lost. None of us could process the final moments.

As I stood among those muted fans, an unusual movement caught my eye. One of our players was heading toward the winning team. Into the mass of black- and yellow-clad victorious players jumping up and down, moved one seemingly out of place in his whites--Scott Nixon, one of our young men from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Slowly and quietly, he moved from player to player giving each one a congratulatory handshake and a hug. No words needed to be exchanged. And as he moved among them, he clapped for their hard-won victory. In the midst of his own team's devastating loss, he took the time to acknowledge the winners.

We don't teach that kind of sportsmanship in our classes at the college. Scott obviously came to us already knowing how to handle defeat. He showed respect and honor to this opposing team and its players. I would love to know who taught him this valuable trait. His parents? His prior coaches? All I can say is I am greatly impressed by this humble acknowledgement of the victors in the face of his own lost opportunity to play in the Finals. Scott epitomizes the kind of character every good athlete should exhibit.

As  one of Yavapai College's soccer fans, I couldn't have been more proud of him in that moment.