Do You Believe in Miracles?
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Inspired by a dear friend who works closely with the US Olympic Women’s Hockey Team and some jostling from a couple of Canadian colleagues I consult with, I made sure I woke up and watched the Gold Medal game this past Wednesday night/Thursday morning. I can’t remember the last time that I wasn’t traveling that I set the alarm for 11:50PM. A few hours later, I headed back to bed incredibly happy that I had just witnessed one of the greatest sporting events I had seen in a very long time. And I watch a lot of sports. The U.S.A. Women beat the Canadians after losing in the Gold medal game the past four tries. A 20 year drought came to an end. (scroll to the Feel Good Footer below if you want to see the end).
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I’ve always loved telling the story of what is really my first and most poignant memory of the “Olympic Experience” that was reignited by the beauty of this recent contest.
While I vaguely remember the 1976 Olympics with names coming out of both the winter and summer games like Dorothy Hamill, Bruce Jenner and Sugar Ray Leonard - it was the constant talk of countries like East Germany and the Soviet Union leading up to the 1980 games that seemed to dominate the news and dinner conversations at the time. The Cold War was on - and it was real. I can remember being so incredibly sad when I heard about the U.S. boycott of the summer games. It was then - at 12 years old - that I had a beginning sense of what it would take to train to make the team - and then have it taken away because of politics. But my story stems around the Winter Olympics and the famed
Miracle on Ice
game where the U.S. “miraculously” beat the Russians. It’s ironic to me - that “miracle” has been the term used ever since.
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It was a running "stressor" with my brothers and I that when friends would come to pick us up, some would shoot odds/evens in the car in the driveway to see who would go to the door to announce their presence. Because - they knew if they came to the door - -and we would be getting in the car with them - - my mother would be sure to make them take a dab of Holy Water and bless themselves. And, depending on their timing that day, they might even have to join us on their knees for the praying of the Rosary. That could take 20 minutes if we were doing all 5 decades! My parents were from Ireland and this was rooted in their upbringing and it became a very natural - and “normal” part of ours.
Even though I only grew up about 2 hours south of Lake Placid, I had never actually heard of it before the Olympics that year. I was geographically challenged, and my youth sports “travel teams” meant going to my cousins house with my brothers - not scooting around from town to town and state to state like it does today. But, the proximity of the game to our actual house somehow made the looming event - the USA vs. the Soviets - seem even more exciting to me.
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There wasn’t 24 hour news at that time. No internet. You got your intel from the local paper (in my case -
The Albany Times Union)
or the 6PM news. Oh yeah - and word of mouth. For what seemed like weeks leading up - it’s all anyone and everyone talked about. To this day, I can never remember their being bigger build up for a game of any sort. It was steeped in local lore and coated in global politics. It was palpable.
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What I loved was watching my parents love watching the game. They knew none of the rules, but were sport savvy enough to know that when the team in white scored - that was good. And when the team in red scored - that was bad. Heck, who am I kidding? I didn’t really know the rules either - full disclosure - I’m still not sure what the heck “icing” is. At any rate, most of you remember the game - or have seen the movie. But, I bet you didn’t know -
my mom is the reason the U.S. won!
You see - with a little over 10 minutes to go, she apparently had had enough of jumping up and down and screaming, “Jaysus, Mary, and Joseph” at the TV. She went for the secret weapon. She left the room - and 10 seconds later came back with it. The next thing you know - she’s throwing heaps of Holy Water at the television. The true “miracle” may be that she didn’t short-circuit the system. But, low and behold - within seconds, some tough, little Italian guy from outside of Boston, Massachusetts, named Mike Eruzione slips one past the Russian goalkeeper. When I tell you this happened within seconds of the TV "holy water dowsing" - I kid you not. What’s a 12 year old who is in awe of his mother to believe. Sure - those next 10 minutes were incessantly long. But, mom had back up just in case! And with 4 seconds to go, who can forget Al Michels famous call that now lives in infamy “Do you believe in miracles?” Short answer...YES!
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Quick, funny follow up. 5 years later, I was playing in what would prove to be the final game of my HS basketball career. We had gone further than any team in school history and were heavy favorites. The team we were playing, we’d beaten twice -and just two weeks before - by 31 points. Well, this wasn’t our day - and apparently, sitting a few rows behind some of the balding Christian Brothers (my teachers) stationed courtside, my mother decided to break out “the secret weapon”. Yep - she started throwing Holy Water towards the court with a few minutes remaining. But then, one of the now irritated Brothers angrily turned around and snapped as he wiped liquid off the back of his head,
“Would you cut it out! The only thing that damn stuff is gonna do is make your son slip!”
Needless to say - the “secret weapon” didn’t work that day.
I should note that the USA Women won their gold on Feb 22. That's the same exact date the USA men won theirs 38 years earlier - and exactly 20 years since the women last won theirs. In all honesty, while we all love the world “miracle”, what we really love is watching what we know will be sports history. Sports - in its purest form - has a way of doing that. A simple clip of Jesse Owens, or Muhammad Ali, or Peggy Fleming, or Nadia Comaneci, or Michael Phelps....brings us back to a moment in our personal history that is truly indelible. I am forever grateful for the power of sport - and that extra something special the Olympics seem to bring every so often. It's a reminder that our differences can be solved in very civil ways - and that ironically - we're not really that different after all.
Steve Boyle,
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There's a 2-4-1 Camp Headed Your Way!
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West Hartford, CT
June 25-July 6
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Farmington
Public Schools
Farmington, CT
July 23-27
August 13-17
Registration available soon
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Narragansett
Parks and Rec Narragansett, RI
Stay tuned for details
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...And While You're Waiting for Summer
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Mini 2-4-1 over April Break is Back!
at Hall High School
April 9-12
8:45 AM to 12:00 PM
Follows a similar format to our traditional summer program
- Grades 3-8 Choose two of the following
Soccer, Basketball, Flag/Ultimate, 2-4-Fun and Fitness
- Grades K-2, We bring the sports to you!
For More Details and to Register
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Preseason clinics going on Statewide
March 12-15
(Click Links Below for Details)
Girls Lacrosse
Boys Volleyball
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And our Friends at CAMP KO are offering a Spring Basketball Program with Coach Brad Seaman. Click
HERE
for details!
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2-4-1 Sports Featured on Multiple Podcasts
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Steve Boyle talks about life as a "Walk-On" and how that's applied to many things moving forward including starting 2-4-1 Sports on his second appearance on the
Winning Youth Coaching Podcast.
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From a few years back, this story of how 2-4-1 got its start and rose to national recognition still resonates. Take a listen as the real value of multi-sport participation is discussed on the
TeamSnap Podcast.
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Feel Good Footer
If you missed it - watch the Gold Medal Shootout between the USA and Canadian Women.
It's Miraculous!!!
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Save the Date for the 8th Annual Johnny's Jog for Charity 5K on Sunday, March 25, 2018.
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2-4-1 Sports
www.241sports.com
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