Why I Love League One

Tormenta defender Preston Kilwien

If you missed the "Why We Love League One" post featuring voices from around the league, please go back and read that and again thank you to everyone who gave of their time to answer that for me.

You may have noticed that I didn't include why I love League One in that post. I'd written something to go at the top, but it got longer and longer and it didn't seem fair to include several hundred words of my thoughts and then ask others to say it in a sentence or two. So you get a whole separate post for why I love League One.

But first, a story.

My oldest son goes to every Tormenta game with me. Partly it's because he loves soccer and likes watching the games. I won't lie to you, there's also the part where he's excited to get to go on the field with me after the games while I conduct interviews with Ian Cameron and the players. He loves that, over the course of the season, players come to recognize him and have asked about him when he wasn't at a game. And despite Cameron's best efforts, he hasn't actually asked a question yet, but maybe this year is the year.

He started high school the past August and being the overachiever that he is, he was running cross country for his high school team and also playing soccer with his 08 Boys Tormenta team. Twice a week he'd leave cross county practice after training for 90 minutes and we'd drive over to soccer practice for another 90 minutes of training. His "easy" days were just two hours of cross country.

For a freshman, he did really well with cross country. In some meets he'd run with the varsity. Other meets he was among the top JV runners on the team. He also played well for his soccer team, starting as a defender and able to shift between center back or outside back depending on what the team needed. 

Two weeks before the Region Meet to determine if he would qualify to run at State, he was playing in a soccer game in Charleston, South Carolina at the same complex the Charleston Battery play at. Midway through the first half, a player from the other team tried to clear the ball and it ended up going directly into the ribs of my oldest. He crumpled to the ground and after a few minutes he was able to, gingerly, walk to the sideline, but it was clear he in some serious pain.

My wife went to check on him and he said it hurt to breathe. Fortunately, my brother-in-law and his wife are both respiratory therapists and we called them and described what happened and what was going on. They said to watch for any discoloration, but it sounded like either fractured ribs or severely bruised ribs. 

That's as bad as it sounds.

I learned that the treatment for either injury is the same. You have to rest for one to two months until it heals. 

Needless to say, this was heartbreaking for a kid who had a chance of qualifying for state in cross country and still had several more soccer games on the schedule. This ended his cross country season and effectively ended his soccer season. He still went to practice (both cross country and soccer) but all he could really do is watch. He would pass the ball around some, but there was no running and he knew if he pushed himself too quickly, he'd jeopardize his ability to play high school soccer in the Spring. 

I spent a few days trying to figure out what I could do to make him feel better. Nothing really came to mind because, really, what can you do for a kid who loves playing sports and had that taken away from him?

Eventually I hit on an idea that I wasn't sure if I could pull off or not. 

I reached out to Tormenta defender Preston Kilwien and explained what happened and to ask if he'd record a short video for my kid to try to lift his spirits.

I don't know what the word is where you're not really surprised when something happens, but you're still kind of surprised because it doesn't seem real. Whatever that word is, that's what I was when Kilwien said he'd do it. I wasn't surprised because he'd always been kind and thoughtful and gave my son a fist bump and a smile every time we saw him. But at the same time, a professional athlete was going to do a favor for my kid. That's the part that didn't seem real.

A few days later, I have email from Kilwien with a 40 second video for my kid. I forward it to my son who is watching his teammates practice at cross country, but at the same time I'm so anxious to see his reaction when he received it.

Maybe 45 minutes later I get to the school to pick him up and ask him if he got my message. He had, indeed, and said it was one of the most thoughtful gestures anyone had done for him. It had certainly made him feel better and I know he watched it several times when he would get down about not being able to run or play during October and November.

So why do I love League One? Because it creates opportunities and memories that you can't get anywhere else.