For the first time in a while, I feel encouraged.
On the night of Oct. 25, I made the mad dash from Widefield High School to George Rykovich Field where the Manitou football team was tied with undefeated Woodland Park. Just a couple of plays were the difference in Woodland Park getting a 14-7 win.
The coaches were speechless. A lot of parents were angry. The players were devasted. And I loved every bit of what I saw.
To clarify, it didn’t make me happy. There is no one outside of the official capacity of Manitou Springs High School that pulls for these kids more than I do. My friends are the coaches. The kids are my pals. I too was crushed by the loss. But for the first time in a while, I didn’t see a group of kids wallowing in self-pity. I saw determination. I saw an immediate desire to continue working and improving.
I was so energized with what I saw in their reaction that I have a sense of hope for the Mustangs. Not just these kids as football players, but as human beings.
Simply showing up doesn’t translate to wins. Simply having a large group of seniors doesn’t automatically translate into wins.
The big lesson is that sometimes your best isn’t quite good enough. But the only way to respond is to pick up your head and move forward. – Daniel Mohrmann
Time and time again this season, coach Stu Jeck praised these guys for the work they put in during the offseason. This team is the most dedicated that Jeck has seen since he took over in the fall of 2021. In a lot of ways, it showed on the field. They beat La Junta for the first time in over a decade. They did it on the night that George Rykovich had the field named in his honor. These boys embraced the pride that comes with playing for this school.
A win against Woodland Park would have been an all-time signature win. But it wasn’t meant to be. And the big lesson is that sometimes your best isn’t quite good enough. But the only way to respond is to pick up your head and move forward.
High school athletics don’t exist as a means to allow kids to feel good about themselves. They exist to teach kids about commitment, dedication, hard work and effort. They gave every ounce of those four things, and it didn’t work out the way that they would have wanted. And sometimes that’s life.
Sometimes it works out the way it’s supposed to. The girls cross country team had a dedicated offseason plan that carried over into the season and resulted in a second-place finish at state, the best in program history.
There are only two things that any human can control when working toward a goal: Showing up and effort. Everything else is up in the air. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.
What I love about kids – and what I love about my job – is they so often do a better job of demonstrating resiliency than we give them credit for.
I want all of Manitou’s athletic teams to thrive and succeed on the field. But when I think back to that loss against Woodland Park, I see a turning point for a football program and for the kids involved in that game. And I promise that things will start trending up for everyone involved. Winning is the ultimate payoff. Losing is the ultimate life lesson. Both serve everyone well in the long run.
And that’s why I love sports.
