Dear Simon,

I hope you are sitting down on some comfy white cloud. Guess what? WE WON. I know it won’t surprise you. After all you told Hippie Child after watching the first few training sessions of the season that you thought they were going to go all the way this year. You reckoned they were a bloody good team. You were right.

You were gone before the first match of the year. There was a minute’s silence for you, the girls wore black armbands and played like demons in that first game, winning defiantly.

You had a deal with the Hippie Child if she scored a goal you would give her $50. It was always a pretty safe bet given she plays in the backs. Although I think you did have to pay up once.

In that initial game, Mike, the coach, put her up to the forwards towards the end, the regular forwards worked hard to get the ball to her and on her third attempt she did it, she scored. Mike  paid up $50.

After the heart-stopping penalty shoot-out of the last game it was hard to believe we had finally made it to a grand final. By the way parking is IMPOSSIBLE at the grand final,who would have thought?

There have been heartbreaking losses in previous years, knocked out in semi’s or finals, in penalty shoot-outs or extra time, our minor premier status counting for nothing.

We often joke the girls don’t perform well in the cold (a little unfortunate given they are playing a winter sport) or alternatively play to the level of the opposition, performing poorly against teams they should beat easily. Certain players (ahem) have been known to lose focus and perform assorted dance moves when seeing little action – she’s your daughter!  But last night was different they came out hard and fast and maintained it for the whole game.

You insisted the girls play a team sport because you believed it was important they understood how to work with others to achieve a goal, and last night we saw that in action. Every single player gave their all, they stood side-by-side, covered for each other and knew each other so well every move flowed beautifully.

I think everyone knew how much it meant to Hippie Child to win this one and by gosh they didn’t let her down. I’m so proud of every one of them. I was also thrilled to see players from previous years there to cheer the girls on, I saw Zara, Bianca and Maryanne but there may have been others. That was really special.

On the sidelines we parents paced and counted down the final minutes, not quite believing it, even when it was two – nil with five minutes to go. The humour and the camaraderie between the spectators of this team has always been high. When you died the support from these people (and the players and parents from Princess Child’s team) was enormous. It made us feel very much a part of a community and aware that many people cared about us, it helped, it really did.

I know Simon you would be thrilled for Mike (coach) and his wife Jenny (manager). I want to thank them for all their hard work over the years. People who volunteer at kids sport are a special breed, there is a lot to do and infrequent reward.  We used to watch from the bench at training and marvel at Mike’s patience as he dealt with cartwheeling eleven year-olds who eventually evolved into angst ridden eighteen year-olds. It’s been one hell of a journey and the man needs a medal for his patience.

You would have been so proud, and as we cheered and hugged and shed a tear or two we thought of how much you would enjoyed the moment.

Missing you.

Love

Janine

 

PS If anyone has better quality photo can you send it through to me?