LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WDRB) — The Eastern High School soccer team on Wednesday honored two teachers battling breast cancer.
Players surprised the teachers with No. 1 jerseys, which are reserved for people who have a positive impact on the team and the school.
“We fight on the field every day, but then we go home. They go through it every day and it’s very tough,” said Matthew Hanna, who plays on the varsity soccer team.
Hanna and several of his teammates presented the jerseys to media teacher Trina Helson and physics teacher Becky Loechle.
“In my freshman year, I had Mrs. Loechle as a biology teacher,” Hanna said. “It’s very sad for her, so this was just something to make her happy.”
“These two compete every day, not for a game, but for life,” said Eastern head football coach Shawn Yohn. “That’s the most important thing we try to do on the football field, teach these young men about life lessons. And sometimes life lessons aren’t always good and they aren’t always beautiful.”
Yohn said it’s about honoring the teachers and teaching the players to be better men as they grow up.
The Eastern High School soccer team during practice on Wednesday, October 20.
“Eventually they have a child or a wife, and they may have to go through that,” he said. “And to understand that you are not alone. It is a team effort. And you never know who will be there to pick you up.”
It’s a lesson on what it means to be really tough and fight your battles with grace and strength.
“They still go to school every day and still teach. They are still role models in the lives of children,” Hanna said of the teachers. “So (it teaches me) not to give up. Because no matter how hard it gets, you have to keep pushing until it gets better.”
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