Admittance

It is becoming more and more clear to me that my life is in some way beginning to be defined by the opposite sex. Currently, I work with mostly women and soon I will have three women as roommates; but the latest installment of this saga has to do with a team of eighth grade girls.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, my eighth grade basketball team, or should I say former basketball team of girls. The season has come to a close. Another chapter of coaching has been played out. This season had its challenges and frustrations for me... but it also had its surprises.

I was surprised by the gratitude of the parents... the respect and the support they provided me with was something that could not be measured. I was surprised to see how certain players developed. (Even though I never knew what I might be walking into every
practice---each one was different, each provided unique challenges... each one provided further insight into a teenage girl; but I must preface this with: I still remain clueless.)

And yesterday, after all was said and done, I was surprised with some tears. Tears from a few players... as I listened, I felt my own tears welling up. As these eighth grade girls blubbered on about how I was the best coach they've had (in their short career I must add). And how I would be missed, and how the end wasn't wanted. I was taken back. Of all things, the things that were said were most unexpected. I was (for a moment) at a loss for words. Not that I should be completely surprised, I mean, I still have some of my the guys I coached in college contacting me regularly. I don't think that any of them would ever utter the same words that these few girls did, but... Know that I held back my tears as best as I could... Could you imagine a group of girls and a twenty-something male in tears after a basketball game with their parents onlooking?!? The thought of it still produces a smile!



All of this brings me to the further realization that we can never fully comprehend the impact we have on another. As brief or as engaged a relationship or interaction may be, the relational
reciprocation of the waves that may follow cannot be conceived; and we will never have the ability to quantify the range of our own impressions.