We almost did it… We got so close… So frustrating!  There were a lot of LCC athletes with that feeling last week. Within 24 hours, four very solid LCC Lion teams of athletes lost four separate nail-biter games; two of them at home and two on the road.  Close. So close.  There’s an old saying that “close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” Although this presents some interesting imagery, I disagree with the premise of the statement.  We all learn from coming close, from the pile of “almosts” we accumulate in our lives. They are valuable learning moments.

I had the good fortune of seeing both of our home games: Juvenile Boys Hockey vs. Selwyn House and the Juvenile Girls Basketball game the following day against John Rennie.  Both were great games; evidence of lots of solid preparation, with a lot of skill on display, solid teamwork, physical hard work and genuine emotion laid bare on the ice and on the gym floor.  I’m told it was the same for our squads playing playoff games away: Bantam Boys Hockey and Juvenile Girls Hockey.

The Juvenile boys game on our home ice was a classic barnburner.  It took five periods and a 16-man shootout to decide the outcome.  Well before the shootout began, the piles of snow were becoming ridiculously thick since they hadn’t cleaned the ice in so long, and it had become almost impossible for players to handle the puck.

Without a doubt the four final outcomes were frustrating, disappointing and upsetting: but they were also so memorable.  In fact, that is one of the greatest qualities of competitive athletics in school.  We don’t always win. You can’t always win. There are always factors beyond our control, and even when our teams play very well—as they did last week—a roll or a bounce or a fine play by an opponent can make all the difference, but not always in your favour.  I am certain that for all our athletes on those four teams, they would have surely preferred a different outcome. But they will never forget that difficult loss and the experience will help make them better next time…. Not just as an athlete but when they find themselves under pressure, when emotions are high and something important is on the line.

We all like to win and we’d all like to see an “A” on the report card in every subject but despite our efforts to control our fate and destiny, real life has a way of creeping in and reminding us that despite all the hard work and preparation, things can’t always go our way.  That’s a key element of life that we all learn one way or another and, in an odd way, it’s good that our students have such valuable concrete experiences with hurdles and frustration during the high school years.

That said, I congratulate all of our teams who proudly wore the LCC Lion on their chests last week.  They did their best and impressed all of us who were out to support.  They have all progressed a great deal since the start of their respective seasons, and the coaches deserve much of the thanks for that.  We thank them for their dedication, inspiration and helping our students develop the resiliency necessary to pick themselves up and stay positive.

I also saw these same qualities at play at the robotics competition last week at Vanier College—where our team placed among the top 10 teams, including CEGEPS—and in the creative flair presented in the Senior School play, “Departures and Arrivals.”  Great job, LCC Players!

All of these activities outside of the classroom have helped to make each of you stronger, wiser, better teammates, more insightful.–Chris Shannon, Headmaster