Get your popcorn and find a seat because this is gonna get long but if you want to read about a team that plays with heart and my own own personal hero, Sophie Andring, then buckle up.
This past week has been one of the emotionally hardest weeks of my life as RCTC headed into the National Tournament. If you’ve ever watched your child struggle emotionally, then you know what I mean. Sophie’s time in basketball was drawing to a close and we were faced with watching it end with her on the bench. Sophie wanted to play so badly. Her coach said don’t. Her trainer said we are so close to being able to getting you strong enough to wear a brace but we aren’t there yet. Her surgeon said I wouldn’t recommend it and another trainer friend said absolutely not. She did get permission to dress and hoped that maybe, just maybe she could get in for the last few seconds for her last time to take the court as a player. She hung out under the basket for warmups and it brought bittersweet tears to see her dressed again.
We went into the game with only 6 uninjured players. It was a battle back and forth until the fourth quarter. 4 of our girls were in foul trouble for RCTC. And then almost immediately one of our girls fouled out. We were down to 5. Then a minute later, another Yellowjacket fouled out. Our girls took the court with just four and I looked at Sophie. She was in her coach’s ear and I was doing my best to read her lips. “Put me in coach. I can play. I’m good.” The crowd around us started screaming “LET HER PLAY!” Coach looked to the stands to her dad and I and we gave him the thumbs up. She ripped off that warm up and checked in at the bench. If you don’t think I was crying, you don’t know me very well.
I wish I could share the video from the live stream when she took the floor without going to jail for copyright infringement. The crowd was screaming, as the announcers said, “like she was Willis Reed at Madison Square Gardens.” (And yes I had to Google who that was.). Then the crowd started chanting “Sophie Sophie Sophie.” You guys- the tears again….
Sophie was instructed to sit on defense and behave. She didn’t- she got 3 rebounds, took a couple shots and even drove the lane once. We were all watching with pride and a little bit of terror as those who know Sophie know that she isn’t going to do anything halfway.
It was literally a minute or two later when a third Yellowjacket picked up her 3, 4 and 5th foul in quick succession. There was no one left on the bench. We continued to play with only 4. Sophie with her torn ACL/meniscus, a starter who was gassed from playing the entire game and the previous two games, another starter who was in tears from pain as she had reinjured her foot and a reserve player who came off the bench and played more than she has all season to keep us in the game. All of this versus West’s starters who they kept on the court until the last 55 seconds. (As the Northland dad behind me said “she thinks you guys might still beat her with just these 4 girls.”)
When the buzzer sounded RCTC fell to the Lady Jays- but the real winners weren’t from MN West. Ask the crowd that sat in silence and despair at how hard those Yellowjackets had fought just to finish the game. The real winners were the 9 girls in blue and gold who showed a gym full of people what it means when they tell you as a kid to “play with heart, play with grit and play as a team.”
Thank you to the entire Northland team and fans who not only stayed to watch but threw their heartfelt and enthusiastic support behind our girls. You guys are a class act and deserved that sportsmanship award.
Thank you to Sophie for making me so proud to be your momma. Win or lose I will ALWAYS love watching you play.
Thank you so much to Jason Bonde for believing in Sophie. You took a player who had her confidence stripped from her by a head coach who treated her as expendable. Sophie finished her high school career thinking she wasn’t good enough to play for RCTC and in two years you had her playing like she could be the MVP of the National Tournament. There is no way she would have gotten interest from the 4 year programs she has gotten without you. You bring out the best in your girls and we are ever thankful for these “bonus” two years.
I'm not ready to be done being Sophie's basketball momma. I will miss the days of cheering on my favorite player but I am ever thankful for the memories. The years and seasons full of memories. Tomorrow the sting will be a little less and as the days go by the memories will bring more joy and less bittersweet pain. We will forever remember our little falcon/eagle/yellowjacket that grew from the smallest player on the court to the biggest player in our hearts.
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