pgd.....

Our junior high football coach, Coach Walling, used to use the letters "PGD" before games and pep rallies. "PGD" stands for "Pride, Guts and Determination." While that was almost 30 years ago, I still remember it and I've found over the years that PGD doesn't just apply to football or sports. PGD can be used in everything you do in life. Last night, I saw a little PGD in both Meg and Sara. OK, it was during their softball games, so it does apply to sports in this instance.

Meg's team has been pretty up and down all season long. One minute they're making a great play, the next minute they're doing handstands in the outfield between pitches. The parents/spectators never quite knew which team would show up. Their season ended last night with a 15-5 loss against girls who were obviously on steroids. (Test results are pending.) But there were a few of the girls who didn't give up. They gave 100% every game, regardless of how bad they were getting beat. That's what leaders do, and Meg was one of their leaders. Leaders take pride in what they're doing, they've got the guts to play hard, and they have the determination to keep on going even when it ain't exactly fun.

Going into the playoffs, we weren't sure if Sara's team would win even one game. Alot of the girls seemed to have had their minds on something else as the regular season came to a close. But something happened in the first game of the tournament. They found out that they could win, and now we're 4-1. Another win and we play for the county championship. (I originally thought if we won last night that we'd be in the championship, but I found out last night that we've got one more team to beat in order to get there.) Anyway, leaders come through in the clutch. Last night in the bottom of the 4th, bases loaded and 2 outs, Sara came to the plate. She'd been walked both times in the 1st and 2nd innings, and she was dying to get a pitch to hit. We were up 4-2 and the time limit was coming up. With a 2-2 count, she came through with a grand slam making the score 8-2. We ended up winning 8-4.

I doubt that either daughter will remember last night's games 20 years from now. But they're both learning things now that are forming their lives. Pride in a job well done; guts to persevere; and determination to finish the task.....