LET'S CALL IRAQ
(August 07, 2008)
by Josh Gross, with special thanks to the Russell family
Let’s call Iraq!
It’s not the normal celebratory cheer you’d expect from a team after they win a tournament, and each player and coach has just been presented with a gold medal.
But that’s exactly what one player yelled at the top of his lungs following his team’s victory at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Colorado Cup in June.
Just as this is an atypical ovation, this too is your atypical U-11 boys’ lacrosse team.
The Littleton Panthers (Co.) were on a mission this year…and for the previous two. Since 2006, the recreational team has lost only four games. That includes playing in several tournaments, like the Dick’s Sporting Goods Colorado Cup, against all-star and select club teams.
For this team, the boys are playing for much more. They’re playing for family.
Ryan Russell, an 11-year old Panthers midfielder, knows that in this family, one key member is missing: his dad. Father David is a lieutenant commander in the 7th Fleet of the United States Navy Reserve, and was deployed to Iraq in March. For the past five months, David has worked at the press desk in the U.S. Embassy, trying to ensure that what the media reports is accurate. One fact no one can dispute is that he hasn’t seen his two sons or his wife, let alone a game of lacrosse in-person since he left.
“It’s really difficult because he’s not there watching,” says Ryan.
The days between regular-season games are tough on Ryan as well.
“Before he left, we used to go outside and he’d help me shoot on the goal [in our backyard]. I haven’t been able to do that with him.”
While the father and son time in the backyard may be missing until March 2009, when David is scheduled to return, Ryan’s ‘family’ has grown substantially in the past few months.
“We’re a team of families,” says Panthers head coach Trevor Barker. “We’ve always done things as a group. [When David went away], it was time to support the Russells. The bottom line is that, from top to bottom, everybody supported them unconditionally.”
“Lacrosse, for all of us this season, was amazing,” says Kelli Russell, Ryan’s mother. “It was a gift to us because we were so busy, and we played in a lot of tournaments. [The team was] my family; they were my social network for three months. I was sad when [the season] was over.”
Susan Schmitz, whose son, Jack, plays for the Panthers, feels that the sport has helped Kelli overcome the struggles that come along with having a spouse serving overseas.
“Lacrosse has been a really good focus for her. It’s given her a family outside of her regular family. It’s given her a purpose and a lot of joy to pass the time, so to speak, so she’s not so worried about her husband.”
And, lacrosse gives Kelli something to share with David – instantly. Kelli bought a Blackberry when David left so she could take photos and email them to him right away. Coach Barker also set up a website to allow families to share photos from their games. David, along with countless other relatives of the Panthers, were frequent visitors. According to Kelli, technology has been a saving grace.
“We’re really lucky in this day and age. My husband has a cell phone, so we’re able to talk with him most days. It’s not like World War II, where you just knew they were alive when they came home. We’ve been really blessed.”
Many members of the team feel they’ve been blessed as well, but in their case, by having something to rally around.
Barker realized what a special thing David was setting off to do, and asked himself, “How do you honor that?” Especially since David could have quit the reserves when his number was called, and he would be here in Colorado today.
Before the 2008 season began, Barker decided to create helmet stickers in honor of David’s service, with the intention of showing support to both father and son.
“[The stickers] generated a lot of conversation between the players and their families,” says Barker, “and the parents, trying to have [their children] understand, ‘Hey, what does serving your country mean? What is [Mr. Russell] doing? Why is he sacrificing,’ which I personally feel is lost in this society, is the purpose of serving your country. A lot of the parents really took it to heart and really had conversations. It was never meant to be a political statement. It was just that one of our people went and needed support, and the family needed support.”
Stickers on their helmets, the team dedicated its ‘08 season to the lieutenant commander after David shared something special with each player: a Challenge Coin. A military mainstay, David told the Panthers that just as they’re on a team, he’ll be on a team in Iraq. While the Panthers’ objective is to win games, his objective is to make Iraq a better place to live.
“A lot of parents came up to me later and said that was so amazing how he tied those together,” says Kelli.
For Panther Bobby Reifsnider, the Challenge Coin was so important that he researched the coin, its engravings, and their meanings.
“It’s kind of like a symbol of good luck for us,” says Reifsnider. “I do walk around with it on a regular basis.”
The fact that the coin has meant so much to Reifsnider really hits home with Ryan and his family.
“I think it’s super that Bobby researched it and found out what it meant,” says Ryan.
At the team’s end-of-year party, the players and parents created a care package for David, which included a signed banner that he now has hanging in his room. He’s gotten other gifts as well, including a Build-A-Bear dressed in a Navy outfit that was made by Reifsnider.
‘The Pastor,’ as Bobby’s often-times referred to, also plays a big role for the Panthers on the field.
Before each game, “the boys would do a little cheer for David,” says Julie Babcock, the mother of Chase, who plays lacrosse with Ryan. “Then, the boys would ask the coaches to leave and they would do a prayer,” which was led by ‘The Pastor.’
“Not every kid on the team is brought up in a religious family,” continues Babcock. “We just thought that was really touching for such young boys that they felt the need to do that.”
While Coach Barker has never objected to a players-only ritual, his coaching style and philosophy have been praised by team parents.
“[He] is dedicated to the sport beyond what most coaches are,” says Schmitz. “He absolutely loves it, and the kids love him. He makes it fun, but yet, he gets results out of them.”
Barker’s mindset and coaching philosophy are very similar to that of Pete Carroll, the head football coach at Barker’s alma mater, USC.
“We never talk about winning and losing,” explains Barker. “If we lose, we learn from it. If we win, we learn from it…sports are just there to draw a comparison to the real world…the bottom line is to learn how to compete.”
On a team where every player is given the same amount of playing time, Barker says that only his goalie plays one position. The other nine on the field at any given time are all midfielders, in the sense that they all practice hard work and perseverance.
Ryan was a team captain in 2007, when he posted impressive scoring totals. At the cost of his own stats, Barker now has Ryan buying into the idea that understanding the concept of teamwork and how to distribute the ball ensure the team’s ultimate success.
“As a result,” proclaims Barker, “I think he became more like his dad. His dad is very unselfish.”
Frequently, David passes up on valuable sleep to answer phone calls from Kelli, Ryan and the team at all hours of the night.
“We were in Steamboat (where David grew up),” says Kelli. “When they won the tournament, the coach said, ‘Are we calling Iraq?’ I said ‘It’s three in the morning.’ He said ‘I don’t care. We’re calling.’ All the kids screamed out, ‘Seventh Fleet’ and ‘We won!’ I just think it was so cool how the kids took to this, and made it such a positive thing.”
The best news?
“He loved it,” says Kelli. “He said ‘I’ll take a call like that any day.’”
And he did, when the Panthers won another post-season tournament and wanted to share the news with David.
Kelli is a stay-at-home mom who runs a stationery business out of the house. Never before has David been gone serving our country for more than three weeks. She says that, in his absence, the boys have “really risen to the occasion.”
“They’ve done really well. They’re really helping out more at home. [Markus, Ryan’s older brother] has really taken responsibility well…and I’m really proud of them both.”
While Ryan misses his dad, he’s made the most of the situation.
“I’ve learned that I’m a lot stronger because my mom and my dad have raised me really well. Me and my dad have a better relationship now.”
Others on the team have benefitted from the experience as well.
“[Kelli] has really brought an awareness to the team by sending us frequent emails that her husband has sent, so it keeps us abreast of what’s going on over there,” says Schmitz. “She has to be both mom and dad for a year. That’s a big role, and she’s done it very, very well.”
David has been an inspiration to the Panthers’ players, coaches, and team parents. And Kelli thinks it may be one reason the team has enjoyed such success.
“I do think it did help having that motivation, because first thing after we won the Dick’s Sporting Goods Colorado Cup, one of the kids, not my son, said, ‘Are we calling Iraq?’”
And that’s exactly what they did.
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