The banquet was at the Newark Country Club. Nice place and the program was good (but a little long with all of the awards and gifts and words of appreciation and thanks).
Ashleigh didn't win MVP, or Most Improved, or Best Offensive Player (she did get a certificate as an All State Scholar Athlete for her 4.0 GPA though!). But she did get recognized for what I consider the most important "award" of the night. Towards the end of the evening, a group of freshman players got up to say some words. (Earlier, during the freshman awards, one freshman girl was named "Most Like Ashleigh Hale!"). Each one of the girls singled out Ashleigh as the most approachable and friendly senior who not only encouraged them on the field, but was not ashamed to publicly greet them in the halls of the school. They were amazed that a varsity senior player would spend time with them and genuinely care about them. So while Ashleigh didn't get a plaque with her name engraved on it or another paper certificate, she made a positive difference in someones life - and that is the most important accomplishment anyone can do. I am proud of her.
2 comments:
That is great. You guys have done a great job raising her and she has done a great job letting her light shine. Awards are nice, but we all know the eventually end up collecting dust and in a box somewhere, but this is beyond any award she could have received. The other plus is hopefully those girls will continue to nurture that attitude and create a culture for that team where caring an friendship is the norm. Thanks for sharing
At the end of the night, when I was taking pictures of the girls, the mom of one of the freshman, came up to me and asked if I was Ashleigh's mom. I said yes. And she said she wanted to personally thank me for raising such a special girl. She said that her daughter quit the team early in the year, because she really felt overwhelmed and out of place, but that Ashleigh went out of her way to talk her back into the team and to nurture her through the rest of the season! I did not know this had been going on. I have been very involved with the girls all 4 years, and knew almost every single one of these girls by name. I often spoke with Ashleigh about how things were going with the team and her coach, but she never told me about this one young girl, and how she'd taken her under her wing. You can imagine my surprise when one of the other seniors announced that that girl was "next year's Ashleigh Hale." And when her mom spoke to me, it was with such gratitude, that I almost burst into tears of joy and pride. Ashleigh had a tough season due to different personalities on the team this year, but she grew a lot and I agree with Shawn, that her legacy will be passed on to the next batch of awesome players! I am grateful that though we don't always do everything right, we have done a lot of things right in the eyes of God, and a lot of those things are reflected in the Godly lives that our kids are living.
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