Creating family ties

I
t’s no secret that I love sports, and that I love sports for so much more than the win/loss record at the end of the season. 
So many life lessons are taught to young athletes who meet and overcome adversity, learn how to win and to lose, understand how to function within a team, become aware of their strengths and weaknesses and what they can bring to the table, and so much more.
One of the most important benefits an athlete gains from participating in a sports program, however, is the relationships that are built in their time being a part of it.
I’ve experienced this firsthand through playing and coaching sports. I still have personal connections with athletes I’ve coached because they all became like my own kids.
I’ve also seen this wonderful aspect of being part of a program through my kids’ participation in sports.
All teams develop a bond from spending hours a day with each other, during practice, bus trips, and contests. They experience the highs and lows of victory and defeat, of untimely injuries, of personal successes and failures and all of those things create a connection that is unique and often lifelong.
While all teams experience this, I have to say that the Newcastle Cross Country team has embodied this team relationship better than I’ve ever personally experienced. When my son Cooper went out for the sport, I (and he) knew that running was not his forte, however he took a chance on it in the eighth grade and ran every year after until he graduated.
Did he do it because he developed a love for running? I really don’t think so. He did it because Coach Pat Hayman (and Vicki), Kathy Beehler and Cody Nelson created a family within the team. 
A real family.
As a single mother and a teacher of young teenagers who sometimes are going through hard times in their personal lives, the support system that was — and still is — created within this program is priceless. 
This aspect of sports doesn’t get a lot of press, but it should. This weekend I became aware that one of Coop’s “sisters” with whom he ran cross country, is a part of a documentary on Netflix called “Cheer.” 
Morgan Simianer (Osage resident and Upton High School graduate) made the cheerleading squad at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas, which is a prestigious program that has won 14 national championships and 5-6 grand national championships. 
After I found out that she was part of this documentary I, of course, got on and binge watched the season. For those who think cheerleading is not a sport, I would highly suggest you watch this documentary so you know that it so is! 
The stunts they perform and the time and sacrifice they put in to being the best they can be is crazy! I know I’d never be brave enough to do the things they do!
I was very impressed by their athleticism, but what really struck me was how this team provided a much needed family for the kids who are a part of it. Several came to Navarro from a difficult upbringing and found an amazing support system and a group of people who loves them. 
They aren’t family by blood, but they are by choice.
This team did go on to win the national cheerleading championship — and Morgan was a big part of it — but their biggest victory was the bond they formed with their teammates and their coaches. Sports can and does change the lives of young people, because it’s about so much more than the wins and losses at the end of the day. 
If you have Netflix, I suggest you check out “Cheer,” and if you know Morgan it just makes watching it all the more awesome.