This is always the most difficult email of the year to write, as we never want the season to come to an end. As a coach, I always want blame myself, second-guess my decisions, ask what could I have done in preparing these you men better to succeed. And it is that reflection takes me through the off-season, reinvigorating me to be better in helping prepare these young men for the next season. It is ever-changing and ever-evolving, both the game and the environment in which it operates.
I will paraphrase my post-game message to the boys last night: This is hard. This game is hard, this region is hard. Accepting defeat is hard. But the end is inevitable. We had wished it would end with us lifting a trophy, but the reality is that is a really, really hard thing to do. So hard that in almost 50 years of Henry Clay soccer it has only happened 3 times. I told you all during our varsity camping trip that if you only go on the hike to see the view from the summit then you have missed out on the real reason for the hike in the first place, which is all the little things obstacles, surprises, slips, laughs, mini views, details along the way. Lifting a trophy is the same, and if all we cared about was the trophy then we missed out on the joy and memories of the journey itself. And while I am as sad (devastated) as they are, as we all are, I don't regret one second of this year. The game is life: it is rarely easy, fair, or just, but if you pour everything into the process and the journey you will reap the rewards of it. And many times we don't realize what those rewards are for days, weeks, or even years. I stick by the way that we, as a coaching staff, ask the team to play, behave, and carry themselves, and while I will spend an off-season second-guessing every minute decision of in game decisions, I sleep well knowing that we do our best to make the journey positive, enjoyable, and productive for everyone involved. We will be delivering cookie dough in the upcoming week hopefully, still waiting on our delivery date. We will send out some info on JV A and Varsity uniform turn-in, end of season award voting, and scheduling of meetings for underclassmen players. And we still have our banquet to look forward to. In the meantime, please enjoy a little break from soccer and reflect on the journey. - Coach Behler Comments are closed.
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