Bittersweet

The job that I enjoy so much is such a fickle profession. Whether or not we win a game on any given Friday night is determined on how well a bunch of 15-18 year olds play. Not that coaching has nothing to do with the outcome, but often times, the team with the better athletes will win the game. Now, I don't say all this to give up an excuse as to why the team that I coach lost last week. In fact, I'm not really sure why I felt the need to say that because our loss last Friday was a team effort. All parts of the team (coaches and players alike) felt that we had a superior game plan than our opponents; however, we were not able to successfully execute that plan and lost.
With that being said, let me talk briefly about the title of this post and why I named it "Bittersweet." The loss is both bitter and sweet; hence the word. It is obviously bitter because of the way we lost and that we felt we were the better team with a better game plan, but how can this event have a sweet part? Well, there are actually several ways:
1) Having been a part of high school football as a player who lost in the state championship game my senior year by 3 points to a team I, to this day, feel that we should have beaten, I understand the lessons that can be learned by losing a game in that manner. I will forever understand what it means to be gracious in defeat and how to overcome obstacles that feel like will impact my life negatively for a long time.
2) It is no illusion to any of you that know my wife and I, or that know any coach and their spouse for that matter, the amount of time that coaches spend away from their families game planning, practicing, at games, and watching film. The time commitment is large and sacrifice is great for these families. This is why I am so grateful to my wonderful wife who is so supportive of the path I have chosen. I spend much time away from her from August until the end of the season; so now that the season is complete, I get to see her much more often. This is also special because the extra time spent will be the last time we ever get to spend together with just the two of us. Come late February or early March, there will be a permanent addition to the Weber family!