Yesterday, I coached my nine-year-old son’s soccer team, the Soo City Junior United, in the finals of the Grand Rapids Cup, where we were trailing 3-0 at halftime against the BC Fire of Saginaw.

After my best Vince Lombardi impression at halftime, our boys took to the field and within minutes had managed to score our first goal, bringing the game to within two. A new-found sense of resilience, they overtook us even after Saginaw responded with a goal of their own to restore their three-goal lead. Over the next 30 minutes, we played a full court press like you’ve never seen before. We scored four straight goals and took the lead 5-4 and, then, with just over a minute left to play, on Saginaw’s first shot in what seemed like an eternity, they scored and once again the game was tied.

Teams started prepping for penalty shots. I heard the referee’s alarm go off, and as he checked his watch and brought the whistle to his mouth in what seemed like the most harmless of plays, one of my boys kicked the balls out for a corner kick. The ref decided to let them take that corner kick even though time had expired—and you can probably guess what happened? A weird bounce and the ball was in the net. The ref blew the whistle, the game was over. We lost 6-5. We were all in disbelief. Our boys played their hearts out. They gave it their all but came short.

My favourite part of coaching kids is that there are so many life lessons that come out of it. This past weekend’s lesson is that sometimes in life, regardless of how hard you work, you just fall short, and that’s okay because you truly cannot win them all and nothing is perfect.

But as Lombardi himself said, “Chase perfection ... catch excellence.” My boys were excellent this weekend, and I’m beaming with pride because of it.