Thanks Coach!

 This week marks the end of an era in our family when our son, Jamie, 

otherwise known as Coach Beck, 

leaves the school where he has been at for the past 14 years
and moves to a new Middle School as their Vice Principal.

 It wasn't his first choice when he graduated from University, 

but he was thankful for the job and gave it his all, 

first as a teacher and then as the Vice Principal.
He grew to love the school and it's staff
and worked hard to make it a great school that we were all proud to identify with.

He loved coaching the Grade 8 boys basketball team

and every year we enjoyed watching him mold a ragtag bunch into a team

and cheered them on, the Grade 8 Huskies.

He saw the potential in the boys,

even if they hadn't played any basketball before,

and looked for ways to encourage them and keep them motivated,

picking them up for practice if they needed a ride

or buying a pair of basketball shoes for a needy player.

For a few of them it was the thing that kept them in school

when they otherwise might not have made it to high school graduation.

 

 It has been 25 years since we started cheering for Grade 8 Boys playing basketball

when Jamie himself was playing, 

but all that has come to an end for now.

But then again 

it won't be too long before we have our own little huskies playing at that school

and we will be back in this gymn to cheer them on.