Saturday.

A group of 20 girls who had worked all season to get to a Saturday morning game... a Saturday morning that came to a startlingly quick end. A Saturday morning game that ended with heaving sobs in a quiet locker room filled with broken hearts. Just a game... I keep telling myself it's just a game. But it feels like so much more than that.

2 years I have helped coach this group of girls through victories and through losses, but none seemed as painful as this. I realize now that it wasn't the loss. It was the thought that this was the last time in a locker room together... the last time we would look at this group of passionate and determined girls in their uniforms... the last time we would get on a bus together and ride back to school in satisfied exhaustion. Now I realize that even if we had won the trophy on that Saturday morning, my heart would still hurt. Because somewhere along the way I have become attached to this incredible group of young women. The only way I know to cope with the sadness I'm carrying in my heart is to be excited about what the future holds for each of these girls. To imagine next year when I can go to their game and watch them win against the group of girls who broke their hearts on Saturday. And I will be cheering. I will be cheering the loudest.