[wpbvideo id=’303602′]One of the greatest things about sports is the life lessons it teaches us. From bonding and team-work to developing character and persevering through adversity.
A girls high school team down in Arkansas has been experiencing all those things in a powerful way in the past year.
As you head south of Harrison, Arkansas on Highway 65 you can’t help but notice a billboard paying tribute to one of the area’s top high school girls basketball teams. The Valley Springs Lady Tigers.
Now in her 17th year as the Lady Tigers head coach, Kimberly Jenkins has led her team to the state finals 7 times and won 2 state championships. The latest coming last year with a state runner-up finish this season.
But during last year’s state title run, she and her team were hit with a double-whammy of adversity.
“In October of 2015 I was diagnosed with breast cancer,” Jenkins explained.
“It was rough,” recalls senior guard Ashlynn Taylor. “We got through it together. We stepped up and took each others backs. We got through it.”
“All of them just got behind me, the whole community did,” Jenkins continued. “In March of spring break last year I had a lumpectomy to take care of the cancer and I’m cancer-free right now which is awesome.”
“During that time I was out a lot and missed a lot of school. So our former superintendent Charles Trammell, always a great Tiger fan, stepped in while I was gone and put the girls through off-season work-outs. And then we found out that he had cancer and he ended up passing away this fall. He was such a big part of this community. So losing him was a big hit. Especially to our team.”
The Lady Tigers dedicated their season to Trammell and wear warm-up shirts with his nickname on it. Literally wearing their hearts on their sleeves.
“It was sad,” Taylor said. “But we got through it and realized he would want the best for us so we just have to go hard ’cause winning is what he wants for us.”
Charles Trammell left such a legacy that when the school district bought a therapy dog to keep at the elementary school’s library, they named him Charlie.
“Mr. Trammell was such an inspiration to everybody,” librarian Melissa McDonald explained. “One of his favorite things to do was to open the doors in the car-rider line every morning and greet the kids to make them feel good. And Charlie’s here to make everybody feel good. It’s a neat way to keep Mr. Trammell with us.”
And as you notice Charley watching a Lady Tiger practice, you get the feeling that Charles Trammel is there too.
Proud of how his favorite team has come together to overcome the worst of times to reach the best of times.
“I think everything happens for a reason,” Jenkins said. “People are in our lives at the right time for the right reason and I feel that these girls have been that for me. And also Mr. Trammell was that for us too. It’s just a special group. I think they’ve had to grown up a lot to deal with some of it and they’ve learned to appreciate all the blessings we’ve been given and how short life can be. Adversity does make you stronger.”
And no one knows that better than the girls on that billboard.
