Pep Talk: "What A Competitor!"

Seeing her tears triggered my own.

The Denver East High Angel volleyball team had just lost. But this was no ordinary defeat. It was a heartbreaking end to a wonderful season. The final season and game for a senior setter who happens to be the daughter of the knucklehead writing this Pep Talk.

As is customary, the teams lined up, shook hands and acknowledged one another in the spirit of respect for the game and competition. I could see daughter Rachel wiping away tears between shaking hands. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but parenthood often ain’t easy. It’s tough to see your kids hurting.

Under their terrific coach Tarah Sponenberg, the Angels had big dreams. Before the campaign began, their feisty mentor declared in front of the team and parents, “This will be the greatest season in East volleyball history!”

I admire folks who have the guts to take a stand. Sponenberg stuck her neck out. The team, parents and student body bought into it. Never in school history had the Angels advanced beyond regionals and qualified for Colorado’s state tourney. Their opportunity to advance started well against Pine Creek from Colorado Springs, but ended in sadness and disappointment. The favored Eagles, playing on their home floor, senior-laden and talented, rallied to advance and terminate East’s season and dreams.

So an aging ol’ man was in the stands crying, too. Watching intently as my flesh and blood and her teammates displayed sportswomanship in congratulating their opponents. My mind began racing through all the years of hard work, discipline and sacrifice this blue-eyed beauty had devoted to mastering her craft - one damn fine setter. Now it was over.

I will terribly miss watching Rachel Nicole McIntosh compete in volleyball. It began long ago, in elementary school, when just getting the ball over the net with an underhand serve was considered a real milestone. The memories roll on to the college-bound young lady – who just learned of acceptance to both Oregon and Oregon State universities - participating in club volleyball. The long hours of practice, long drives to games all along Colorado’s Front Range and beyond. In a quiet manner, always going about her business. Rarely complaining, at least not to her old man.

Always competing. Dependable. Talented. Willing to pay the price. Willing to sacrifice for the betterment of the team. In watching a daughter play competitive volleyball all these years those wonderful skills permeated from her performance. I can only hope and pray, as she prepares for college and the next chapter of life, she never forgets those valuable traits lie within and can be transferred from success in athletics to success in whatever she chooses as her next passion.

Team sports are such a wonderful laboratory for life. We learn the importance of working well with others; realize there will be setbacks that must be overcome; marinate in the truth of “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” Triumphs. Tragedies. The moments that make us shout “Wow!” and the moments leaving us with a gut wrenching, “Oww!.”

Competitive volleyball is over, but the game of life rolls on. Down the road, whether it’s struggles with college studies, a relationship issue or whatever challenges will surely appear on the horizon, may one of the greatest setters in East High history never forget the intangibles submerged in her marrow to deal with the unexpected and unwanted.

The venues change, but the strategies are the same. We gotta compete. We gotta keep showing up. We gotta keep pushing forward. We’re gonna get kicked around a bit, but have to rise to fight again. We must learn from, not become a victim of, experiences on our journey. With that type of attitude, we will win more than we lose. We gotta believe, “And so it is!”

Those truths are emphasized in team sports and manifested in the spirit in which we play the games wherever we roam - in athletics, business, at home or elsewhere.

All those crazy thoughts were flashing through my brain as I watched an incredible human being emotionally suffer on the floor below. My vision was completely blurred because of the flow of teardrops. I tried to shift thoughts toward the future and collegiate opportunities that include an academic scholarship in the land of the Ducks. So much good stuff on the horizon.

I kept watching and the cranium just kept coming back to, “What a great competitor is this beautiful young woman!” The volleyball career is over. It was not always easy. It was not always fun. It did reveal what lies inside her soul: A competitor who is not afraid of hard work and sacrifice. A competitor willing to risk failure in the pursuit of success.

We can all learn from her example. I hope she never forgets it. A devotion to hard work, sacrifice and risk taking. It’s a winning formula wherever she shall roam. Us, too.