EXCELLENCE

The theme of excellence is something I think about a lot. This is not only because I consider myself a perfectionist but also because there is so much mediocrity in this world.

This weekend, I had the good fortune to watch Cate play four games in a futsal, a version of indoor soccer, tournament. Even though Cate is nine and most of her teammates are ten, they were playing in the 11 year old division because they knew that playing girls their age would not have been challenging enough.

In the first game, we came up short by one goal against a group of girls who appeared much older than 11. In fact, there were so big that I wondered if several of them had driven themselves to the facility! Our girls were undaunted and went on to win the next two games and finish second in their group. This resulted in a rematch with the Amazonians in the final.

It was a tight affair that was significant for the many hard fouls committed by the other team. They scored first, and then we equalized. We had a chance to take the lead after they committed a foul on one of our players in the box. Our coach picked Cate to take the penalty. Partly this was because she is so dependable but also because she had scored a beautiful game winner from a shot from 20 feet out in the closing seconds of our second match. Cate bravely stepped up and fired to the keeper's left, but unfortunately their keeper stopped the ball-no doubt because of her large size. Very late on, the other team scored again, and we could not counter. It finished 2-1.

Despite losing the final, I am so proud of these girls. They gave it their all, comported themselves well, and outplayed all their opponents regardless of what the scoreline said. In one word, they are excellence.