Finalist-ly!!!

Oh My Goodness! They did it. They brought home the hardware! And not just any hardware - the hardware with the with the Blue Ribbon!

MyGirl and her team are CHAMPIONS! After the last year of entering four tournaments and bringing home FOUR Finalist medals - they finally made it over the hump and walked to the car with a CHAMPION Medal around their necks.

Not for nuthin' - those four finalist medals were fought for. They were hard to get. Many teams went home early on Sundays while MyGirl's team (and parents and siblings) hung out for the Championship match just to lose. I'll say this - the WORST loss of any tournament seems to be the Championship match because they are SO close to walking away feeling like they are the best - even if they did their best.

The great thing about this tournament is that MyGirl learned a little something too. During yesterday's semi-finals MyGirl got yelled at by Coach #3 and she did something that she rarely does... she yelled back at him. EEEK! I had no idea what she said but I know MyGirl. I KNOW it was out of frustration. In general, she doesn't talk back and she NEVER talks back to the coach. Well, Coach #3 might have also known that, but I could tell (and so could she), he was not happy with her response.

YANK! Out of the game she went - to take a well-deserved time out, just after a brief and what-I-found-out-later-to-be stern "lesson" from the coach. When she went back in, she looked to be...a bit calmer. At half-time, the score was 0-0.

The second half, it looked like MyGirl's team had been replaced by a whole new (better) team and they had fire in their eyes. (I have no idea what was said at the half-time talk, but I'm hoping Coach #3 "vaulted it" so he can pull it out again!)

Less than two minutes in, MyGirl rocketed a shot from inside the 18 and they were up 1-0. She was happy. I was happy. She ran back to her position, saw me cheering, pointed at me and said, "That was for you!"

THAT is why my kid is so cool! Here's another reason (I think anyway):

Over the course of four games this weekend, we had the same center ref three times. (Refs definitely deserve their own post and I promise, I'll get to it one day.) This ref, had some minimal left-side paralysis. His left hand was contracted and he held his arm close to his body. At times you could see him supporting his left upper extremity with his right.

Coach #3 told me after we had won and before the medal ceremony, MyGirl had a conversation with that ref that went something like this:

MyGirl: 'I have a question.'
Ref: 'Okay, ask.'
MyGirl: 'How come when you point with your left hand, you hold your hand like this?'

I know that some parents would be completely embarrassed right now, but I'm not. I'm proud.

Ref explained that he had cerebral palsy and that he has some minimal impairments on his left side. He uses ref-ing games as his exercise.

I have told MyGirl and TheBoy their whole lives, when you see someone that's different, don't stare, just ask 'em. And now I know that all the times that I said it. She listened.

And I'm so grateful that she had the courage to ask. And I'm even more happy that she saw someone that was different than her and she didn't judge them a bit.

She asked me this morning if there was a cure for that CP. Sadly, there is not.

No matter how many goals MyGirl gets (or doesn't get) I will be proud of her for moments like that. She is a lovely girl and no matter how many Championship medals the girl brings home, she will always be My Girl. (Just FYI - "lovely" is not ALWAYS the adjective I would use to describe her. Especially not in these "tween" years. But as a whole, she is lovely.)

That said, I agree with her. She looks better in blue than she does in red. It brings out the color of her eyes.


Thanks for the good luck wishes. We need them again this weekend when we travel to six hours north for the girls to play some tough teams. Wish us GOOD luck!