cOuRAGE TO MOvE FORWARd

Early on a sun-kissed Wednesday evening in May, two girls lacrosse teams met up, one a reigning Section III champion in Class C, the other a top contender in Class B.

There were plenty of goals with a lot of back-and-forth action and a high skill level on display. When it was done, Auburn, the visitors, had prevailed 2014 over the hosts from Fulton.

It was the most important game played in Central New York high school sports this year. And the score had absolutely nothing to do with it.

For this was the first time Fulton had stepped on a lacrosse field for a game since a car accident 11 days earlier took the life of one of its senior players, Rylee Bartlett.

In doing so, these young women taught all of us that real bravery can simply involve moving forward when the easiest instinct is to withdraw.

Difficult as it is, try to put yourself in their position.

It’s a Sunday evening, and suddenly you get word that your teammate, your friend, is gone. Worse yet, her longtime boyfriend, also in that car on that

Random Thoughts

Phil Blackwell

awful night, is critically injured and, despite all his strength, ultimately passes away, too.

Consider a world upended, shattered, ruined. May and June are supposed to be celebratory times in a teenager’s life, with junior and senior proms, last concerts and games, final exams and, for some, a cap and gown and a key to a bigger, more exciting life beyond their tightknit communities.

Instead, there’s crushing grief, tears of shock and dismay, and a feeling that doing something, anything is a violation of some sacred trust and must not be broached or considered.

Maybe those are the first instincts. What’s more, they are understandable. At first blush, doing the kinds of activities you did before may feel wrong and only remind you of all that you lost.

But the funny thing about human grief is that part of it involves remembering, celebrating, and cherishing all the good parts of the lives taken from us, whether full or, in the case of Rylie Bartlett, far too premature.

As a whole, the Fulton girls lacrosse players mourned, for sure. Yet they also demonstrated for us that the best kind of remembrance and tribute is to take those next steps – perhaps tentative at first, but then bold and convincing.

So when a little time had passed and after the postponement of a couple of games, they returned to play Auburn, though they already knew just how much everyone cared about them.

Of course there was the entire Fulton community wrapping their collective arms around family and friends. Beyond that, though, was seeing many different teams in Central New York wearing special T-shirts in Rylie’s honor or offering various tributes using the color pink that Rylie loved so much.

Then, during the Auburn game, there was Fulton players celebrating goals with a different song from Rylie’s favorite, Harry Styles, after the first one brought forth Taylor Swift’s “Bejeweled” – which played when Rylie notched her only goal in a game a month earlier.

Ultimately, the best way to salute a young life, taken too soon, doesn’t involve wallowing in sadness at what might have been, but instead having the simple courage to take the valuable lessons learned from this unexpected trauma and apply them to all of us, especially the adults.

In the next couple of weeks, you’ll hear plenty about the stakes involved in various league, sectional, regional and state tournaments.

What happens on these fields, diamonds, track ovals, tennis courts and golf courses will, heaven willing, resonate for decades in the minds and hearts of those involved.

They also have great perspectives, though, and in a flash they’ll tell you that what counts, as much as any medal or plaque or accomplishment, is the great times, bonds and friendships forged in these young days, some permanent, some temporary, but never forgotten.

Some lacrosse players wearing Fulton red and green will take much more with them. Not only will they hold the precious and beautiful memory of Rylie Bartlett in their hearts, they will have left behind, for all of us, an exemplary lesson on what a real victory looks like.

Phil Blackwell is sports editor at Eagle News. He can be reached at pblackwell@ eaglenewsonline.com.