High school flies by, and its experiences last forever, but the things that hurt most are losing the seniors who have worked so hard for you, and you now have to say goodbye. The four years in high school breeze past you, and you remember your freshman year like it was yesterday. When you lose your athletes, it’s never easy.  

“It’s hard, especially if you coached them for four years. Even if it’s your first year with them, it’s always tough to see your seniors go.” Coach James Patterson said.

 When athletes leave, it doesn’t always hurt them that their four years are gone; their coaches are also hurt by what they lost. It hits everyone differently, the way they take it. Don’t take these four years for granted. Give everything you’ve got to make the best for yourselves. When you go to college, you might be afraid of losing contact with your coaches, but those coaches will always be there for you. 

“I try to stay in contact, inviting them to come back whenever and hang out with the younger guys or ask them to even help out with coaching when they can,” Patterson said.

Keeping in touch with the seniors you lose is huge, and they might not see it, but it shows them that you care. That’s what makes coaches such big role models in young kids’ lives, because you never know what they are going through, and those little texts can help them out in a big way. Losing seniors might put some fears in teams and make them wonder if they are going to be as good as they were last year or if they are going to be worse, but you never know what the future holds.

“You lose experience for sure with the varsity game, but sometimes you don’t lose the athletic ability,” Patterson said.