The Coach Up Above

Playing a sport has many components that come along with it. Starting with the coaches, without having that set mentor you have nothing. Coaches put all their time and efforts to bring the team together. From practices, to team bonding, and then to games, they are the ones who make it all happen. 

Taking it back to the start of Junior High, this was the first year you were eligible to play a sport for the school. I walked into our elementary gym with hard floors and tiny bleachers not knowing anyone or even how to hold a field hockey stick. The clock on the wall was broken so there was no telling how much longer you had. Little did I know, this would soon end up being my entire life and I would never wish away the time. We had two coaches, Coach Ellen and Coach Amy. Amy was the mom of the group whereas Ellen was more structured and in it for the game. Ellen was our head coach and is now the person who I look up to for close to everything. Ellen had this love for selfies, she had new faces to use for each selfie with her dirty blonde hair over her shoulders in every single picture.

7th Grade Picture Day
At each practice, we had to stay until we ended our drill on what she called a "good note". If she didn't think it was good enough or our best effort, we would do it all over again. It was draining to have to push yourself over and over again, just to hear "Again!" come rushing out of her mouth. She didn't spend all of her time yelling, but the yelling is what made us good. Looking back, I would give anything to hear her voice at practice just one more time.
At games she was always right on the side line watching every single play, her eyes were glued to the field. You couldn't get away with a single bad play without her seeing, but this also meant she saw every good move you made, every goal you scored, and every foul made against you. During our first game, she put me as a
First goal ball
forward not thinking anything of it. A little bit into the first half I scored. I had never scored before and the feeling to hear Ellen cheering for me is unforgettable. I sprinted over as if my life depended on it and gave her the ball. When you score your first goal we had a tradition to keep the ball. She wrote the date and my name on it, to this day I still have that ball in a case. Ellen was our rock, she gave anything for us. We didn't always see that until we had no choice.
So, on our season went, it was filled with laughter, drills, wins, losses, but most importantly memories. It was the times of our lives, and there was never a dull moment. We didn't think it would ever end. We thought we would always get to hear her say "Play every game like it's your last". We thought hearing her say "I swallowed another bug" down at our dirt practice field would last forever. Every time she swallowed one you would just laugh under your breath and question how in the world is she our coach. But, it all came to an end.
A year after our 7th grade season, we all got the call that she had passed away. The feeling that rushed through my body is something I will never forget. That was my coach, that was the person who made our season a season, and then she was just taken away. I spent every single week day with her for two hours at the minimum. To go from that to never seeing her again at such a young age was heartbreaking. Our team was devastated, there was this feeling of emptiness in all of us for a long time. At the funeral, we all sat there with our heads down just sobbing, as Amy would come over and comfort us. After that, we had to realize she was really gone. At practices we would always see butterflies, before she passed we never saw butterflies as much as we did now. They were always there, and we knew she was okay. We played for her, we practiced for her, it was all for her now.
It took us a while to really grasp what had happened. We made signs to hang down at the field and it was varsity's first game since she had passed. It was a big game against one of our biggest rivals, which made the tension even worse. Every sports team associated with our school came down to the field. Her whole family was there to be honored. They walked across the field and collected the roses our team handed them. It was the start of the National Anthem and every sports team circled around the field and held hands as our heads looked at the grass. We were all one again, but there was this deep hole missing in the bottom of our hearts.

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