Every Sunday morning on our family’s way to church just before 9:00 am we pass a cemetery. Many times sitting in that cemetery is a man seated in a lawn chair. I have never met the man and I don’t even know his name but in my mind I know a little bit about him. I know he has lost someone he loves; so he comes each Sunday to sit, talk, and reminisce. It could be a wife, a friend, or a family member but I always deal with two feelings on those Sundays. The first is that I am really sad for him. The second is that I hope I have such a wonderful relationship with someone in my life that they will take time out of their living world to sit with me and remember the great times. As former N.C. State coach Jim Valvano once said, “spend most of your time with the people who will cry at your funeral.” Relationships are what life is all about. Athletics allows for players and coaches to have numerous opportunities to form relationships with people. Like all of life, some times those relationships are strained but sometimes they are special, and sometimes…. they are both.
This week is the final time our Fall student-athlete seniors will play for the Erskine Flying Fleet. They might be “Flying Fleet Forever” but the reality is their relationships with their teammates and coaches will change. As a coach I have been a part of many senior night festivities. I had a difficult time last February when I watched 7 very special young men to me play their final home games in Due West. So it is from a different perspective that I watch soccer and volleyball teams go through their senior nights. Women’s soccer coach Gary Winchester saw two seniors, Amanda Tinker and Si’Ara Washington, play their final games at Huggins Field last Tuesday night. Amanda is injured but Coach Winchester started her and allowed her to play the opening seconds of the game. Her face as she left the field said enough about how much she appreciated the gesture. Amanda and Si’Ara were both a part of Coach Winchester’s first team at Erskine so they will always have a special place in his heart. The men’s soccer team had a ceremony of their own on Tuesday. Andy Castano has played two years after transferring from Spartanburg Methodist and has been a key player in Erskine’s rise to second place in the league this year. But the other senior on the men’s team was even more special. Nik Papapierus played for Coach Warren Turner in 2003 at Greenville High School. Nik ends a player-coach relationship that has seen the pair win a state high school championship and miss winning a Conference Carolinas regular season championship by one goal on Saturday. Nik will no doubt always be one of Coach Turner’s favorite players. Much the same feelings will be felt by Volleyball Coach Heather Vahjen in regards to her senior Alison Albers. Alison will be the first volleyball player at Erskine to graduate since re-starting the program two years ago. Alison has been a key part of the quick rise of volleyball to 2nd place in Conference Carolinas in only their second year.
All five of these seniors will be missed for their abilities but it will be much deeper than that for their coaches and teammates. Those relationships will change. Hopefully they will keep in contact with their coaches and a few teammates but it will still be different. There time as collegian athletes will never be replicated in their lives. But maybe one day the relationships they have formed will be strong enough to warrant sitting in a lawn chair and reminiscing.
This week is the final time our Fall student-athlete seniors will play for the Erskine Flying Fleet. They might be “Flying Fleet Forever” but the reality is their relationships with their teammates and coaches will change. As a coach I have been a part of many senior night festivities. I had a difficult time last February when I watched 7 very special young men to me play their final home games in Due West. So it is from a different perspective that I watch soccer and volleyball teams go through their senior nights. Women’s soccer coach Gary Winchester saw two seniors, Amanda Tinker and Si’Ara Washington, play their final games at Huggins Field last Tuesday night. Amanda is injured but Coach Winchester started her and allowed her to play the opening seconds of the game. Her face as she left the field said enough about how much she appreciated the gesture. Amanda and Si’Ara were both a part of Coach Winchester’s first team at Erskine so they will always have a special place in his heart. The men’s soccer team had a ceremony of their own on Tuesday. Andy Castano has played two years after transferring from Spartanburg Methodist and has been a key player in Erskine’s rise to second place in the league this year. But the other senior on the men’s team was even more special. Nik Papapierus played for Coach Warren Turner in 2003 at Greenville High School. Nik ends a player-coach relationship that has seen the pair win a state high school championship and miss winning a Conference Carolinas regular season championship by one goal on Saturday. Nik will no doubt always be one of Coach Turner’s favorite players. Much the same feelings will be felt by Volleyball Coach Heather Vahjen in regards to her senior Alison Albers. Alison will be the first volleyball player at Erskine to graduate since re-starting the program two years ago. Alison has been a key part of the quick rise of volleyball to 2nd place in Conference Carolinas in only their second year.
All five of these seniors will be missed for their abilities but it will be much deeper than that for their coaches and teammates. Those relationships will change. Hopefully they will keep in contact with their coaches and a few teammates but it will still be different. There time as collegian athletes will never be replicated in their lives. But maybe one day the relationships they have formed will be strong enough to warrant sitting in a lawn chair and reminiscing.
