To my signing senior Cavaliers and fellow classmates,

Congratulations!

You've made it.

You've made it on the dream team or, rather, the team you've dreamed about.

You've made it, met the goal you've been striving for since your first season games.

You've made it a long way since those days on the wall-ball court during recess.

Sandy games of tackle football (even when the teacher disapproved). Competitive shouts during games of tag by the big dinosaur slide. Throwing tennis balls on the top of the roof because you couldn't possibly control that strong throwing arm of yours.

That's where your story began. That's where the first chapter of your story will end.

It has been a joy to sit (and, during the great moments, stand) in the bleachers watching you. It has been an honor to join the Crazies in cheers for you. It has been a blessing to sit in the student section decked out in the weirdest gear (from hot dog costumes to Barack Obama masks) for you.

It has been a blessing, but now it will it become a memory. Because you are moving on.

You're leaving, but you aren't leaving alone.

You are leaving retired jerseys and state championship trophies. You are leaving musty Tippett Gym locker rooms and MC Anderson Field hose water. You are leaving obligatory blue Gatorade bottles and purple and gold ball caps.

You are leaving a locker room, leaving a last-name clad jersey, leaving a legacy.

But you are gaining something, too.

You will continue your career at a school that wants you, values you, supports you.

You will don a new team t-shirt, but you will still have all the ratty purple ones to pull out for sleeping or for workouts. Your name will take its place on a new team roster, but it will always have a home on the old gym wall next to the vending machine and trophy cabinet. You will learn under the leadership of a new coach and earn the companionship of a new team, but be assured that your old Cav family will be happy to greet you and ask you about your last game when they see you at homecoming.

The commitments you make to your passion don't just travel with you. They take root in the playground sand where you used to play. They follow the strong-armed tennis ball onto the roof. They race around the dinosaur slide in your game of tag.

The young Cavaliers below you are awed by you. The older Cavaliers ahead of you are proud of you. Your fellow senior Cavaliers are overjoyed for you.

We can't wait to watch you put on a new jersey and leave a purple-clad legacy behind.