prayerful of dreams - 2008-06-28
preschool princess - 2008-06-16
life with my sweetheart - 2008-04-29
the fast approach of four - 2008-04-12
lighting up my own life - 2008-03-08
2002-03-04 - 12:01 p.m.
I have never been more proud of someone, than I was of my baby sister, last night. I was in New Jersey at the Big East Basketball Conference, at Rutgers University. I went there to support my lil Sis, Tara who is a Senior at Syracuse University. Tara is my hero, right now. and this is why~
She was a High School Basketball Star, and known for her skill, her spirit and her passion for the game. She embodies what a true athlete is all about, great ability and fierce determination. She was heavily recruited by several Big Schools,and amidst great hope and promise, accepted the full scholarship offered by Syracuse University. One of the reasons why she chose S.U. was because our family lives about 30 mins from the school and thus enabling us the oppurtunity to support her and watch her play.
To understand the significance of this, you must first realize, that my father is an ex football player, who values sports tremendously. He lives with the shadow of regret that he gave up his football scholarship in his Junior year and ended up going to Vietnam. He has never truly forgiven himself for letting go of his one chance, and the what if's haunt him to this day. But, he has spent the last 30 years dreaming of having an athlete in the family. His day finally came, when the ink was signed on Tara's Syracuse Orange Woman Basketball Scholarship form.
Tara spent her freshman year at Syracuse getting in shape and training and garnishing her game experience. There was much talk about her ability and speculation of her tremendous capacity for growth in the coming years. She truly burst onto the scene, known for her long platinum blonde ponytail and her intimidating defensive tactics. Tara stands about 6 ft 2, and her arms seem to spread out like wings and she is excellent at fending off the opposing plays.
My parents attended every game, and became close friends with the other team mates parent's, a small community of friendship was formed. Season one passed into season two, and again, it was all about getting stronger and the promise of even better things to come. We are a very close family, and one persons sucess is enjoyed by all, and of course the same is true for personal challenges.There has never been a moment in my life, when my family was not there for me, and vice versa. So, last year, when Tara seemed to be stalled and not playing much, it caused much concern amongst all of us who care about her. We could not comprehend why she was suddenly spending virtually every game on the bench. Noone could. It seemed to defy all reason. We wanted to believe that her coach knew what was best, and theorized that maybe it was just a phase and that somehow she was off in her game and needed to sit out for a bit. My father started noticing that, they could not play there defense though, because Tara was the winged avenger and the tallest girl on the team, and without her powerful prescence on the court, and more often than not, the team would struggle and end up succombing to a close defeat. And even though, they seemed to start off strong, they could not maintain the rhythym of victory for the entire game. And yet, throughout it all, there sat tara, through most of season 3, with her head in her hands, desperate to go in, and just do what she was born to do. Play Basketball.
We were enraged on Tara's behalf. And the Coach would neither offer an explanation or meet with my parent's to discuss this matter. Tara's Coach maintains a strict policy of never discussing playing time, with player's or their families.But, to us, it defied all logic, because she never would even tell Tara, what she could do, or try to improve upon to get back in the game. It just suddenly seemed that Tara failed to exist. In the meantime, she maintained a High Honor Average, and was the media darling of the home games, because of her exhuberant personality. Every Summer she tried out for and made the Empire State Games, which is a league of the best players in New york State playing against each other, in regional meets. Obviously, she had ability or she would not have been selected.
The question became, why isn't Tara being played? The Sports radio D.J.'s wanted to know, and in there broadcast commentary's of the games, they would ponder this question on the air. There were press write up's and articles in the paper, about this seemingly unexplainable situation. Fans would yell " Put Tara in !" over and over, but it never happened. We sat through game after game, watching our baby sister, wilt with misery, sitting alone on the bench with a few freshmen and walkons, sitting next to her, as the game played on, without her. Even the players talked about it amongst themselves, noone could seem to offer up any possible answer.
So, this brings us to now, Tara's Senior Year. This is supposed to be the jewel in her crown, but instead it was a bitter thorned one. She went into the Season, with hope renewed, and vowed to do whatever it took to get out there. She practiced and practiced, and ran and lifted weights. She tried to align mind body and spirit , all the while thinking positive thoughts. She imagined herself out there, with her team mates, when she watched them play, without her. She felt pride in their accomplishments and in Newspaper articles, was quoted as saying that she took ownership in the success of the team, even if she was not out there leading them to victory.
We tried to support her as best we could. I always brought her pale pink roses, and my father who works In Iowa and flies home on holidays and occasional weekends, arranged his weekends to correspond with Tara's big games. We went and cheered and screamed for her, even when she did not play. Even when they were ahead by 20 points, and after they had played the walk on's and freshmen, sometimes, they still did not take Tara off the bench. You could see the sting of this humiliation on her beautiful face, and through tears she would try to still cheer and high five the players and attempt to put on a brave front. A few times, she was put in, for the last 2 mins of a game. It was hard to ascertain, if this was a cruel evil ploy. and Why torment her so personally? To our eyes, Tara has never done anything to deserve this degrading treatment!
So, last night, the Syracuse Orangewoman were at Rutgers. They had won game 1, and made it to game 2. The girl who usually was the Center Starter, had fallen in Game 1 and been injured. My mother and father started burning up the phone lines between Syracuse and Iowa, becoming more and more anxious,with each passing minute and praying that Tara would be put in. My brother Brett and I drove to Rutgers. We went into the auditorium, and surprised Tara. She did not know that we were coming. She glanced over, and saw us, and realized that we were there for HER! Come what may, we were going to be proud of her no matter what. We watched her warm up. The electricity from the crown magically reverberating through us, and I could feel my heart racing in anticipation and nerves. I was on the cell phone with my mother, who was back home listening to the game on the radio, and at the same time, on the other line with my father . our sister Erin, poised on her beige sofa in her apartment, listening in on her stereo and calling my brother on his cell phone.and Our Other Sister Alyssa and Her husband tuned in via a webcast. We were all connected via radios and pc's phones. And one by one, we started to pray. Please God, let this be Tara's chance.
I noticed when they sat down, that tara had her team warm up shirt off, and her letter shirt on. This meant she was going to start! And start she did. She went out there, and played her heart and soul out. They were playing against the impressive Notre Dame that was seated number 2 and All American. And in the end, Tara managed to score 9 points and played tremendous defense. She was amazing, and all the fans, who were aware of her situation , cheered the loudest and the longest for her! I had tears in my eyes, watching her out there, because I fully realized the tremendous significance of this one game. Tara was getting her vindication, out there on the court, and later, her coach was forced to Congratulate her. She was the talk of the stadium. The band kept chanting her name, her team mates were just as proud of her, as were we. And most of all, you could see that she was proud of HERSELF! She was set free~ and when the game was over, and they were all huddled in a victory team hug, Tara looked over at me, and I mouthed " I love you " to her. She replied a quiet " I love you too" back at me, and I have never felt more proud of anyone in my entire life. So, Now I am sure you can see, why it is, that my baby sister, is my total hero. When I grow up, I wanna be just like you, Tara :)
Please wish her congratulations , feel free to drop her a line at [email protected]
Syracuse center Tara Trammell (35) leaps in the air to pass over Notre Dame
guard Allison Bustamante during the first half of the Big East Women's
Championship quarterfinal at Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, N.J.
Sunday, March 3, 2002. (AP Photo/Daniel Hulshizer)
Copyright 2001 Associated Press
old starlight - new starbright
Click here to read the WendChymes archives
Please make a wish and sign my Guestbook!
(C) wendchymes 2008
