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Remnant Westside Thrillers are awesome!!

It was the most amazing experience and the most awesome team since my team back at MIT! It's the first team I've ever been on and not had to be a captain or a coach...strangely refreshing to just play.

I don't know what the best moments were...Melissa's defensive touchdown, Rose running up the middle and scoring a touchdown in OT to get us past Praise and into 1st seed, John's face every time he led the Thriller cheer (What time is it?!?!), Kevin shaving a mohawk into his hair....Ooh, I got to catch an interception too, and pull a whole bunch of flags. SO FUN.

The funniest moments in my mind are tied between when Helen (our QB) broke away into a run all the way down the field and stopped right before the end zone and started jumping up and down before someone came and pulled her flag because she thought she scored the TD but hadn't. Or when someone else (I forget who) caught a great pass and started jumping up and down that she caught it, not realizing to run with it.

What really struck me throughout our games was our defensive coach, Jooho. He lost his voice cheering and screaming from the side, was sweating bullets after every game, jumped around like a maniac, and had grins of pride that stretched across his whole face when we executed his plays correctly. Maybe in a strange way because it reminds me of all the times I lost my voice coaching MIT, being notorious for jumping up and down out of my chair, the ridiculous highs and lows of watching players you've invested in perform under pressure. I guess I've been more often in the coach's position, that it was strange to have it reversed and see it from the other side. I guess I really appreciated it because it's so hard to be a coach and to constantly be thinking about your players and training them and putting everything you have into them - and in the end not be able to do anything but send them in there. And because it's been so opposite of Sabs' hands-off "you take care of yourself, you know yourself best" approach. But yeah, it's really something to know that your coach really put his heart out there on the field with you. I'm sure the same goes for the offense with Kiho, and for Mikey and John and Kevin.

In the end I feel like God really blessed the day and our church through this event. From the excitement of the girls the night before when we slept over at Melissa's house and watched Friday Night Lights, to the absolutely gorgeous weather that we woke up to, to showing up to the field and seeing the other teams and praying before every game...it was just so awesome to see sports and faith collide (the two things I love most!) John said in the beginning and at the end that what was important wasn't winning or losing, but what we had in that big team huddle - the fellowship we had shared, the bonds we formed, and the unity in Christ that couldn't be taken away. Not a dry eye, especially when it was followed up with prayer and one last team cheer.

It was just such a crazy experience to be there with the whole team pulling together and supporting one another, the coaches being so motivating and positive, and how so many people from church came all the way to the boonies of Jersey with posters and face paint to cheer until they went hoarse...man, I'm so impressed that our ragtag team doing Indian runs and army squats in Central Park turned into this fierce group of sisters working together and bringing a strong strategic force to the tournament. Even though we didn't win overall, we really did play our hearts out (2 wins, 1 loss in the playoffs), and there's some consolation in knowing that we beat the team who ended up winning it all. (We beat them in the prelims in pool play).

Gosh...God is so good. And tomorrow...small group wars!