Somewhere Over the Rainbow
“After every storm there’s a rainbow, no matter how long it takes to show up.” – Dove dark chocolate candy wrapper
Wise words from the piece of chocolate I just ate as I sat down to write this blog. The picture it paints is one I can attest to the past few weeks.
While the beginning of our season wasn’t necessarily “stormy,” it wasn’t a beaming ray of sunshine and rainbows, either. We started out well with a win against Grinnell, but then struggled as the next three games took place. We lost. We tied. We lost. The games weren’t the only things we lost, though. Our morale. Our spirit. Our pep. Our hope. Our work ethic (at times). Our drive. Our passion. Our resilience. Our personality. Our perspective. Our purpose. Our play. Our identity. Our confidence. Our laughter. Our fun. All missing. All lost. All struggling to be found.
The grey cloud that hovered and brought storms to our team left us feeling defeated, confused, and broken. I, as a senior, couldn’t help but think about how unfortunate it was that my last season ever would end not only in minute soccer losses, but more importantly, holistic program losses. Culture losses. Morale losses. Team unity losses. How would we fix this? How would we turn things around?
However, all it takes is one spark to start a flame—or in this case, one beam of light to reflect the beauty of a rainbow after a storm. Day by day, person by person, we re-found ourselves and re-claimed our identity as a team and program. We showed up and worked harder than before. We practiced the details with purpose. We had a vision in mind and clung to it. We acted as a unit. We fought for each other. We encouraged all. We made mistakes. We corrected them. We faced successes. We celebrated those, but stayed hungry, too. The storm began to clear. We laughed and had fun—we found our personality. We implemented practice sessions better into games—we found our identity. We began to see results—we found our confidence. What was once missing, what was once lost, we found behind the cloud that no longer lingered. We began to see the rainbow—no matter how long it took.
So we turned our program around and ended our pre-season with a bang. We defeated three undefeated teams, took home two W’s from St. Louis, reclaimed our identity on our home field, and did it all with the passion, persistence, and personality we lacked weeks prior.
Even sitting here now in hindsight—four wins later, heading into our season-opener in two days confident and excited as ever—I can’t tell you what changed the trajectory of our season over the past few weeks. Was it the meticulous effort? The constant reminders to “relax and have fun”? The accountability? Pep talks? Encouragement? Anger of losing? A combination of all? I’m not too sure. What I do know, however, is that for the first time in my four years here, I am no longer scared of the opponents and games to come. Teams that have been engraved in my head as superb and mighty suddenly seem meek and small. In the wise words of senior Ashlyn Moos, “I’m excited to play Wartburg Saturday.” Better yet, I am confident to play Wartburg Saturday.
“After every storm there’s a rainbow, no matter how long it takes to show up.” Maybe the storm wasn’t just one month long. Maybe the storm wasn’t just the beginning of our season. Maybe the storm has actually been the past three years, and maybe this year our rainbow will finally shine through. No matter how long it’s taken, I am as confident as ever this year we will ours.
Let’s get it.
Wise words from the piece of chocolate I just ate as I sat down to write this blog. The picture it paints is one I can attest to the past few weeks.
While the beginning of our season wasn’t necessarily “stormy,” it wasn’t a beaming ray of sunshine and rainbows, either. We started out well with a win against Grinnell, but then struggled as the next three games took place. We lost. We tied. We lost. The games weren’t the only things we lost, though. Our morale. Our spirit. Our pep. Our hope. Our work ethic (at times). Our drive. Our passion. Our resilience. Our personality. Our perspective. Our purpose. Our play. Our identity. Our confidence. Our laughter. Our fun. All missing. All lost. All struggling to be found.
The grey cloud that hovered and brought storms to our team left us feeling defeated, confused, and broken. I, as a senior, couldn’t help but think about how unfortunate it was that my last season ever would end not only in minute soccer losses, but more importantly, holistic program losses. Culture losses. Morale losses. Team unity losses. How would we fix this? How would we turn things around?
However, all it takes is one spark to start a flame—or in this case, one beam of light to reflect the beauty of a rainbow after a storm. Day by day, person by person, we re-found ourselves and re-claimed our identity as a team and program. We showed up and worked harder than before. We practiced the details with purpose. We had a vision in mind and clung to it. We acted as a unit. We fought for each other. We encouraged all. We made mistakes. We corrected them. We faced successes. We celebrated those, but stayed hungry, too. The storm began to clear. We laughed and had fun—we found our personality. We implemented practice sessions better into games—we found our identity. We began to see results—we found our confidence. What was once missing, what was once lost, we found behind the cloud that no longer lingered. We began to see the rainbow—no matter how long it took.
So we turned our program around and ended our pre-season with a bang. We defeated three undefeated teams, took home two W’s from St. Louis, reclaimed our identity on our home field, and did it all with the passion, persistence, and personality we lacked weeks prior.
Even sitting here now in hindsight—four wins later, heading into our season-opener in two days confident and excited as ever—I can’t tell you what changed the trajectory of our season over the past few weeks. Was it the meticulous effort? The constant reminders to “relax and have fun”? The accountability? Pep talks? Encouragement? Anger of losing? A combination of all? I’m not too sure. What I do know, however, is that for the first time in my four years here, I am no longer scared of the opponents and games to come. Teams that have been engraved in my head as superb and mighty suddenly seem meek and small. In the wise words of senior Ashlyn Moos, “I’m excited to play Wartburg Saturday.” Better yet, I am confident to play Wartburg Saturday.
“After every storm there’s a rainbow, no matter how long it takes to show up.” Maybe the storm wasn’t just one month long. Maybe the storm wasn’t just the beginning of our season. Maybe the storm has actually been the past three years, and maybe this year our rainbow will finally shine through. No matter how long it’s taken, I am as confident as ever this year we will ours.
Let’s get it.