To the editor:
Eight years ago, our younger son played on a local youth hockey team which just could not catch a break.
The season started in October, but by Christmas, they hadn’t won a single game. The kids were frustrated, angry, depressed, and starting to turn on one another. If it hadn’t been for the patience and gentle encouragement of that coach, we might remember that year as our son’s worst hockey season ever — instead, it was his favorite season ever.
The coach taught the kids that working as a team and supporting one another, no matter what, was more important than the score.
He taught them that if they gave it their all, played a clean game, and, above all, treated one another well, they could walk off the ice proud, no matter what.
The team mascot — a fluffy pink stuffed bunny the team initially picked as a joke — soon became the cherished symbol of a team that wouldn’t give up. At the end of the season, when the team finally won a game and pig-piled ecstatically on top of their coach, there was not a dry eye in the stands.
Most of that “Pink Bunny” team are seniors in high school this year, but they still have the little pink bunnies the coach gave them at the end of the season.
Our family will be forever grateful to that coach: Thank you, Jeff King.
Dr. Abe & Jesseca Timmons
Greenfield