"Everybody heads up high”
says coach after elimination
This post has nothing to do with softball or even collegiate sports.
This post has nothing to do with softball or even collegiate sports.
It does address, however, the difficulty in accepting a defeat when a team has given their all and how one coach handled it.
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Dave Belisle: “you guys are going to bring back,
something that
no other team can provide but
you guys, and that's pride. Pride.”
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Last Monday night, Rhode Island's Little League squad, representing the NorthEast, was eliminated from the Little League World Series in a heart-breaking 8-7 loss to Illinois.
The team's coach, Dave Belisle, stepped up to deliver an off-the-cuff pep talk to his team that the sports world is calling inspirational, meaningful, and heartwarming.
Here are parts of it...
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Dave Belisle: “I'm getting to be an old man,
I need memories
like this, I need kids like this.”
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"Everybody heads up high, let's talk for a moment...
Look, I gotta see your eyes, guys. There's no disappointment in your effort...
“You're going to take back for the rest of your life what you provided for a town in Cumberland. You had the whole place jumping. You had the whole state jumping. You had New England jumping. You had ESPN jumping.
“Because you wanna know why? They like fighters. They like sportsmen. They like guys that don't quit. They like guys that play the right way.
"I love you guys. I'm going to love you forever. You've given me the most precious moment of my athletic and coaching career...
"So for the last time we're going to try to suck it up and we're going to yell 'Americans.'
"One, two, three, Americans!"
For the full video speech,
click on the link below:
