The Story Behind the Score

The Story Behind the Score

High school athletic teams are judged largely by their win-loss records. A team is deemed “good” if their wins outnumber their losses. They are deemed “weak” if they have more losses than wins. If a team shuts out another team, they are “awesome.” And if they consistently make it to the State tournament, they are “a force to be reckoned with.” Win/loss records do not tell the whole story of a team, however. Those numbers give no hint of the heart, team spirit, heroism, sportsmanship, unselfishness and pure love of the game that exists on a certain New Jersey high school boys’ soccer team.

This team has not had a winning record in several years. They are written off as “easy wins” by their opponents. The newspapers make no predictions about them or their players in their pre-season articles, and they give little coverage to them aside from reporting their game scores. So it would be easy to assume that this team is not important or interesting enough to rate inches in a newspaper. That assumption would be wrong. The story behind the score of this team is made up of many stories which clearly demonstrate the way these players honor the game of soccer that brought them together.

It is a story that shows courage, strength, faith, teamwork and sportsmanship in an almost constant adverse environment. It shows absolute and unswerving trust in a young coach who came into the job with new ideas, new energy, and a new attitude. The story behind the score shows players who volunteer to play in positions where they are not 100% comfortable or even happy, for the good of the team. It tells of players who play through injury without complaint, because their team needs them. The story behind the score is about the player who carried an injured teammate cradled in his arms off the practice field unaided. It tells of players who took turns visiting their injured goalie while he recuperated from an injury sustained in practice. The story behind the score shows teenage boys comforting each other and bolstering each other after tough games. The story behind the score shows the players who represent each other, their school, and their families, with dignity and with respect.

The story behind the score shows pride, in each other and in their team regardless of what the final score is. They walk off the field after every game, taking something positive with them even after a loss. The score doesn’t reflect the way this team honors the game of soccer every time they step onto a field. The respect they show game officials, the brotherhood they share with each other and with their coach, the gratitude they feel for their devoted fans – their families, friends and schoolmates who unconditionally support them at every game; none of that is apparent in the score. If one was to make the error of thinking that the score accurately depicted the team, then one would be sadly remiss.

So their record may not be a winning one in terms of numbers or statistics. But what this team stands for, what the players have learned, is that one of the least important things about a game is the final score. This team believes if everyone puts all their efforts and concentration and heart into playing to their potential, playing soccer with integrity, that they are winners, no matter what the scorebook says at the end of the 80 minutes. That is their victory. The story behind the score tells of the pride that this high school boys’ soccer team has, and the way they honor their game and themselves. Life lessons well learned, which will take them to college and afterwards, into their lives as adults. We should all be so lucky.





(published in Ewing Observer in fall 2006)