This simple message is underlined by the fact that my soccer
coach, Clive Charles, died six months after the photograph was taken and exactly nine years ago today. He was
faithful to his ideals to the end, and his spiritual presence bids me to follow
in his footsteps.
“Earn your right to play”? Clive’s motto referred in particular to the conditional
right of each of the 20 women who were privileged to wear the purple and
white jerseys, which proclaimed that they were jointly the University of
Portland Pilots soccer team. Acclaimed as one of the best collegiate women's soccer teams in the USA, the team
has included several Olympians (most recently London 2012 saw Christine Sinclair and Sophie Schmidt win bronze medals with Canada and Megan Rapinoe a gold with the USA), and Clive an Olympic coach.
Clive made it clear to us that earning a right to play
applied to more than just the soccer field. It embraces all facets of life equally. In soccer and in life, he expected a
high standard of