The next Minnesota Miracle?

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It's no secret that girls' volleyball in Minnesota is serious business. Especially around this time of year. And there was no greater example of that than Nov. 2 at Concordia Academy in Roseville during the 4AA sectional semifinal with St. Croix Lutheran.

The building was overflowing with green-and-white-draped Concordia fans, but a huge contingent of red, white and black St. Croix Lutheran fans were present, too, complete with students dressed as Piglet and Chewbacca.

As the match progressed, the energy in the room intensified. The bleachers were set along one side of the gym, with the student sections hugging both walls. At each point won, those sections seemed to get louder and louder — almost to a deafening pitch. It was typical high school volleyball — with just a bit of an edge of "we really want this win!"

After the first set, a pushup contest was quickly organized between the opposing student sections, and the most muscular male students were chosen to drop to the floor and show the gym how many pushups they could complete before hitting the exhaustion point.

During the following sets, the back-and-forth score left fans breathless. Muscular bodies continued to hit the gym floor as first one team won a set, then the other team pulled one out. By now, the student sections really started to let loose. It was obvious that both Concordia and St. Croix Lutheran really wanted the wins for their schools. The tension was at its height.

That is why it was so shocking to watch what happened next. While the room erupted in celebration when the final point was scored by Concordia, the student-athletes lined up to "good-game" each other. Then something happened that I have never — in my multiple decades of going to sporting events — seen before.

Both student sections quickly, and with no encouragement from school leaders or anyone else, lined up in two straight lines right next to their school's student athletes to high-five and "good-game" the opposing student section.

And just like that, all the intensity and tension between the groups seemed to evaporate into thin air.

At first, the parents were too shocked to know what to do. Then slowly, from the back of the crowd, one of the parents started to clap for what they were seeing. Realizing what was happening, the Concordia and St. Croix Lutheran parents also came together, stopping their conversations, and turning to applaud their students who were exhibiting the most remarkable show of good sportsmanship most of us have ever (or will ever) see.

In a world where we hear stories about sporting events filled with insults hurled, physical altercations and sometimes even worse, it gives me, as a parent, great hope for our next generation of fans. Perhaps the students have learned from the bad behavior they have been seeing that they can and should do better. Perhaps by seeing remarkable sportsmanship like this from our students, we adults will learn that we also can and should do better.

Thank you, students!

Jori Senter Susanka, of Shoreview, has a daughter in the Concordia Academy class of 2024.