The following is an open letter to the Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball coaches, players, managers and athletic administrators: First of all, congratulations on a great season. There have been a lot of really good girls basketball teams at your school over the last 39 years, and you went farther in the tournament than all of them. We all appreciated not only that you got the state finals, but how you went about it. You did it by winning close games against good teams. You did it with a combination of seniors and younger players. You did it by playing stingy defense and balanced offense. It was fun to watch you play. While the emotions of Saturday’s loss to Princeton are still very fresh in your minds and the minds of your fans, I want to point out a few things that someday will make a lot more sense to you. I hope you understand that your history-making run through 3A’s northern bracket was exactly that – history making. When you have an obstacle in your way, someone has to be the first to find the solution to it. You proved it was possible. Now every Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball team that follows you will know that it can be done because you did it. You not only provided a template for success for the Lady Vikings of the future, but you also broke through that glass ceiling of doubt that has been hovering over the program for years. You also now have etched in the minds of every girl, from JV player to 9 year old driveway star, how absolutely cool this season has been and how much fun the tournament trail has been. Think about that moment when you got off the bus and walked into the Tiger Den for the semistate. I know you remember that ... frankly none of us who were there will ever forget it. Understand that the little girls who will someday take the court as Lady Vikings were there that day too, and they not only heard that roar, but they were part of the crowd generating it. That sound is burned into their brains, and you can be sure they are going to work as hard as they can so that someday when they walk into the gym they feel that same rush, that same tangible outpouring of support that you could literally feel hit you in the face. You showed them that. You also reminded all of us that you can be nice and still be successful. It was very refreshing to listen to your postgame interviews on WRSW, to see your interviews on TV the last couple of weeks and to watch you interact with people as your season was extended. You handled it all with class and grace. You looked the cameras square in the ‘eye’ and answered all of the questions, even the ones you didn’t understand, with solid responses and smiles. You were tremendous representatives of what Tippecanoe Valley really is. You did that. Even the moment when no one could have blamed you for celebrating a little louder and longer, when you beat your fiercest rival Rochester for a trip to the state finals, you shook their hands and treated them with respect. You did that. But most of all, you accomplished something and you had no idea you were doing it. You brought joy to a community that really needed it. The collective “Tippecanoe Valley” has been through so much in the last few years. Death. Grief. Pain. Loss. What you did this season could never take away all those things, but for a few weeks you gave the people of your school corporation something to feel good about again. You reminded us that sports give us the rare opportunity to put behind us, although temporarily, the problems and troubles of everyday life and focus on a team or a group who so captivate us that we block out everything else. A lot of people have been praying that something or someone would come along to help people at Tippecanoe Valley remember that, when we work together, we can make something happen that is so much bigger than anything we could do on our own – and in that you find real success, and in real success you find joy. Maybe that “something” we’ve been praying for was you. And maybe, someday, we’ll look back and realize you bringing your community together and giving them joy was your greatest accomplishment of all. Sure, not winning the state championship hurts today, and tomorrow, and it still will next week. But years from now you will look back and remember very little about that last game and much more about how you got there and who you got there with. You will remember the bus rides and who you sat with on them. You will remember something funny Coach Kindig said in practice that made you want to laugh but you knew you shouldn’t. You will remember what it is like to sacrifice something to get something so much more. You will remember walking into the Tiger Den to a roar, and leaving with more than any trophy could ever provide. And we all will remember you. Well done Tippecanoe Valley Girls Basketball 2014-15! We are ALL very proud of you.
