Taylor Vigil: The Lightning Bolt

Hi to all out there reading and supporting our Sonoma State Seawolves. My name is Taylor Vigil and on my behalf of the Sonoma State Women’s Basketball team, I am a little nervous when it comes to writing my first blog post, knowing that anyone can judge, read and comment on this post. I have decided to share with all of you. So please be gentle.

As I sit here at this business desk in the comfortable Fairfield Inn & Suites Marriott before our big game against Stanislaus, I have come to realize many things before me. Such as the strength and empowerment my team has taken on within just a few previous weeks. Yet it is not what we are now that has gotten us here, but rather where we have been that created an opportunity for success.

My coach once told me along with my team that during season everything we got, we got the hard way. While I knew nothing was going to be easy, she went onto say that there will be times that a lightning bolt will strike upon us, yet it is the counter aspect of our reaction that will either make us or break us as a whole. If you were to look up the definition of a lightning bolt, you would find that it is defined as an abrupt electric discharge from cloud to cloud or from cloud to earth; accompanied by a loud thunder cap or a symbolic representation thereof. In its original usage, the word may also have been a description of meteors, or of the consequences of a close approach between two planetary cosmic bodies.

Now switching gears just momentarily, for those of you who have been keeping up with the blogging and know my fellow team captain Oly Larkin, then you know that tragedy had struck our team with a significant injury on her behalf. She had been struck by a speeding taxi walking through the crosswalk and taken to the hospital immediately. As a team, when we were hit with the news not knowing the details of the situation and filled with worry by not being able to see her, we became lost without her. Speaking for my teammates as well as myself I can honestly say that I became frantic. Not knowing when the number one knowledgeable person who I look up to for advice, comfort and support as an all around teammate would be back and playing on the court yet again was mind boggling. Luckily, she had no broken bones, but needed time to heal her significant bruising and become stronger to walk again. All I could think about was her; a senior who put all her hard work in along with her talents she brought to this team now would have to come for a screeching halt. How was this fair to her? How could we continue to grow as a team and move forward in a positive direction with such a fatal negative impact that affected everyone? And yet, it hit me, and I thought back to what my coach told me about a particular lightning bolt that would strike down and I realized its time had come. Only I came to find that it was a lightning bolt for opportunity. Yes- it struck us off guard and affected everybody involved with our team, but it was a bolt that ignited a spark of hope. We were able to take the negative effects of the lightning bolt that knocked us down and turned it into something we could use as a flash or a glimpse of a positive mindset. If we could be the team to get through something so destructive as this, we could be the team to overcome it all.

My definition of a lightning bolt may be different from yours, but the way I see it is as an abrupt electric discharge that causes destruction to a specific person, place or thing that creates and impact upon those who all surround it. It is with that lightning bolt that may cause destruction, failure, or negativity to what it impacts, however, it is when you realize that without failure success cannot become possible that a real winner is born within. What is success without failure, really? I believe this was the lightning bolt that may have brought destruction upon us, yet we used it to our advantage to be successful. I can honestly say I am thankful for this lightning bolt because I look back and see Oly’s injury was a blessing in disguise for this team which helped us pull away with few phenomenal wins against not just Hawaii Pacific or Academy of Art but also, Humboldt State! Everybody throughout the team came alive and looked to the opportunity to step up as a chance to rise above the negative facts we were faced with and pulled away as a stronger, more together team-which goes without a shout out to them team to tell them how proud I am of them all! Oly may not be out there with us doing what she normally does best but it is the underlying impact she has had on all of us. I realize she might feel as though she has been doing nothing at all by not being out there but it is the “little details” she does and may not see that impacts us significantly. She is our eye’s and ear’s bench side and collectively as a team we are her leg’s court side.

It is the fact that we are a team with many parts but form one body. And although those parts are many each body part is important and matters because they all come together to form one. I found each role is important. The foot cannot say to the hand because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, nor can the eye say to the ear because I am not an ear I do not need you. It is because the body was made up with each part equal so there shall be no division. Without this family carrying this message there is no room for improvement. Our opportunity to get better lies within and is there for the taking to build on. Sitting here excited to see what the weekend brings with our games against Stanislaus and Chico are filled with high hopes. So for those of you reading this, keep your fingers crossed and wish us luck. With time we will see Oly in our, what we hope, near future back out there on the court again, but in the meantime I now have to leave you to get ready for my game. I hope this has impacted you as much as it has for me and helped you see things clearly in the aspect of what a team should stand for and maybe even a message to take with you into your future when life gives you the short end of the stick. Because one day everything you have you may have the hard way!