A salute to the winners – and losers
As the girls championship game was going into its climactic final throes – with the teams locked in tie after tie -- Christian Learning girls soccer coach Keith Wilcke said something just exactly right.
“It’s too bad,” he said to those seated around him in the stands, , “that somebody has to lose this game.”
Before we get on with the necessary business of relating who did what to whom in this year's championships, there should be a short preamble simply proclaiming what an incredible tribute to sport these games were.
Rarely have there been such closely matched exhibitions of skill, intensity, and courage as was on display in the International gym Monday afternoon, and on the Co-operative soccer field Tuesday.
In sport it does not always matter most who won or lost. Baron de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic games once said, “The important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning, but taking part. The essential thing in life is not conquering, but fighting well."
The teams that took part in these championships fought very well.
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A sports fan has suggested adding the following variation on the same these by legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice:
"For when the One Great Scorer comes
To write against your name,
He marks - not that you won or lost -
But how you played the game."
-- David Boldt
