MORE THAN A GAME

MORE THAN A GAME became real to our girls during state cup this year. After winning on Saturday, the girls advanced to the next round and were playing a tough game against Freedom Fuego out of Tucson. It was an important game for both teams. The winner would move on to the semi finals but the losing team would be knocked out of state cup. We were down 1-0 at the half. A few minutes into the second half of the game one of the Fuego players took a hard kicked ball right in the face. She was knocked out immediately. She fell to the ground and didn't get up. For a moment, no one noticed that she wasn't moving and play continued. Finally, the ref realized what was happening and blew the whistle. As the Fuego coaches and trainers ran out onto the field it became apparent that this was very serious. Immediately, our girls circled up on the field and began praying for the injured player. Our parents and coaches on the sidelines huddled up and also began to pray. As the paramedics arrived, the player was conscious, but barely moving. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital. It was a scary situation for all. The refs continued the game, but our girls hearts weren't in it. They couldn't get their minds off the injured player that was carried off the field on a stretcher. Somehow, winning didn't seem very important anymore. The girls were even willing to forfeit the game. It ended with a 2-0 loss, knocking us out of state cup, but the girls weren't concerned with the score. They only wanted to find out how the injured player was. A few of our parents went over to pray with the other team's parents and many more expressed their concern. The Fuego parents were blown away by the love that our team showed them. They said that they have never seen anything like that in competitive soccer before. We kept in touch with their team over the next few days and got regular updates on their injured player. We are happy to report that she is doing well. She had a minor concussion and black eye, but is recovering nicely. That isn't the end of the our story though. The Fuego team played the next weekend at Reach 11 and our players and parents were there on the sidelines to cheer them on. (they won!) The girls got a get well card for the injured player who unfortunately, had to sit out that game. The Fuego parents and players were so excited to see us there and couldn't believe that we would show up to support them. They hugged us, thanked us and took lots of pictures. They said that we were the classiest team they have ever met. We know that this is only the beginning of a long lasting friendship between the two teams!