MOre than a game
The school year has started fast. This year, six FOR Lakeland coaches are helping lead and coach our cross country and girls basketball teams, giving us even more opportunities to show up for students in places where they already spend their time.
As our coaches have gathered together, one thing keeps coming up: the students get really excited when they see us on campus.
That excitement means something to us. In fact, our coaches have found themselves saying, “I wish we had coaches investing in us when we were in middle school.”
We recently got to experience one of those moments with our girls basketball team as they played their first game of the season—and came away with a win against one of their bigger rivals.
It was a close game. It got chippy. There was frustration, mistakes, and plenty of pressure. But our girls rallied together and let their game on the court do the talking.
While we're excited about the win, that's not what we're celebrating most.
We're celebrating the resilience we saw in our students. We're celebrating their ability to overcome adversity, regulate their emotions, and keep going when things weren't going their way.
High-stakes moments can be overwhelming for middle school students. We saw that play out on both sides of the court as frustration turned into mistakes and even tears.
And that's where coaching becomes more than coaching.
At one point, we called a timeout—not to draw up a play, but to help our girls slow down, breathe, and get grounded. Sometimes the most important thing we can offer a student isn't another instruction. It's a calm presence in the middle of the chaos.
That's what we're excited about this year.
We get to show up as coaches and mentors. We get to celebrate the wins, walk through the losses, and help students learn that they can face difficult moments without facing them alone.
Because sometimes the most important thing happening on the court has nothing to do with the final score.
It's a student learning that they are capable.
It's a student discovering resilience.
It's a student knowing someone will be there when things get hard.
And we can't wait to keep showing up.