The Scoreboard Goes Dark

Friday, November 7, I had the opportunity to make the trip to Shawnee, OK and watch OBU Men’s Soccer play JBU in the conference tournament.  While the outcome of the game was not at all what I had hoped for, it was still a milestone game personally.  It was way more than just a win or a loss.  More than a step closer or farther to the national stage.

It was the beginning of a new chapter in Jake’s life and mine.  Jake has been play soccer since kindergarten and I have been coaching, learning and watching ever sense.  I watch way more these days than coach, and I am sure that is a good thing.  But with this game the scoreboard is dark and the opportunity to play for school has come to an end.

It has been fun journey and we have the family stories to prove it.  I have a a few pictures and years of memories.  It is hard to believe that my kindergarten is now a young man.  Time has brought many changes and reversal of roles.  I can no longer be the first in a race down the field and my skill have long been eclipsed.  One day there will be new a family coach and I will take my place in the stands.

I think I will wear a straw hat when I sit in the stands and be proud of both coach and player.  That is what Ed Stehr would have done.  I think it is a lesson that I appreciate more and more everyday.

While the road to this point has not always been smooth or gone the way we hoped in the game.  I have enjoyed the watching and learning to love the game.  Somehow I think I have grown.  My son is so much more than a soccer player.  He is a great young man, with the heart of a champion.

Cheers to the best of fan’s Ed Stehr, you would have been proud on November 7 with one very classy grandson.