Tied Up with a Bow

I've been cut from teams and it sucks. I've been put on the bench after making teams. That sucks too. Despite all those times I wanted to play and didn't get to, my senior season of my college lacrosse career went well, putting a bow on my sports package and sending it off nicely. And despite all the stress and heartache it's put me through, I still love sports more than almost anything in this world.
Now I'm on the other side of it, trying to decide whose packages to put the bows on and send off, whose packages should be filled with something else, and whose packages to start cramming stuff into because they seem durable- like they could hold a lot and still look really pretty. It's hard making these decisions.
Tonight I had a list of forty names (girls) in front of me. Six of them I knew I wanted on the team, twelve I knew I didn't, twenty-two names (girls) to discuss and decide, and ten more slots to fill for the team. For each of these twenty-two names (girls) I could come up with an argument as to why they should and why they shouldn't be on the team.
Most of the time there isn't a discrepancy between what's best for the individual girl and what's best for the team, but sometimes there is. The team/girl priority question has bounced around in my mind more times than a would-be-easy amount these past few years. I think "team" wins. I think. When it came down to the last six names (girls), two of them didn't make it because of attitude, and two of them did make it because of attitude; the other two made it because we believe they're good investments.
I would love to have a conversation with every girl that we discussed tonight and tell them why they did or didn't make it. I would love to tell every girl on my list that I see them as more than just a name, and that I was in their shoes, and that I know they can handle it. I would love to tell them that they are worth more than what team they are on, and that we as coaches don't think any different of our girls as people based on what roster they belong to. I would love to tell them that they can shine on any team, on the bench, on the field, during practice (especially during practice), and outside of a sports setting, and we as coaches notice our players in all these areas. We notice all the players in these areas- all the players, not just the "cool" ones. We hear things about you and know things about you that you don't know we know, and we care about your lives outside of whatever sport you're trying to excel at. I would also like to tell each girl that even though as coaches we choose what's best for the team (I think), the package you end up with is what's best for you. It may look different than you thought you wanted and it may be filled with things you didn't expect, but when you look back you'll be grateful for what you got out of it and what you were able to give because of it. That doesn't mean the hard times weren't hard and it doesn't even mean you don't wish things would have been different. It does means though, that you don't have the same story as anyone else, which is cool. It means that your coaches, captains, etc. were not only looking out for you but for the people around you. In the end you'll see that you created a really pretty package to wrap up and share with someone who needs it, someone who wouldn't benefit from any package other than what's individual and what you can rightfully call your own.