Play for Payton. Play with Purpose

There’s no playbook on how one is supposed to handle tragedy. How it will make you feel pain, sorrow, anger, fear, confusion. It never makes any sense.
The High Plains Community felt that and so much more last week and will continue to process through many more emotions as the weeks and months move forward, having lost a teammate, classmate, friend, daughter, sister and most recently auntie Payton Ackerson. 
We will never understand why, but we have and will continue to remember a girl who had so much to be happy about, from playing sports at a high level to excelling in the classroom while also being everyone’s friend.
It’s impossible for me to fully understand what those of you who bleed red and blue went through last week. What was easy to understand, though, was how special Thursday night was for anyone who spent time during a three-hour stretch in the Polk gymnasium watching a team and community cope and begin to heal all at once. 
First off, if you were late, you didn’t have much choice on preferred seating. And when I say late, I mean being early for the junior varsity match.
Hand up, I nearly missed the memo myself. I  had to park a ways back and hoof it. It was the most intense and well-attended junior varsity matches I’ve ever attended.
Every point was met with loud applause and rigorous cheers. It wasn’t just me who thought so, either.
“The gym filled up really early. It was probably the most well attended JV matches I’ve ever seen,” Nebraska Christian volleyball coach Zach Hunnicutt said. “You could just feel the support from this community and to see everyone turn out for Chad and Erin (Ackerson) was really neat to see.”
It was truly incredible. Two of the strongest people I’ve come to know. Despite a near-full gym, the Ackersons took their normal seats right on the net, just about halfway up. 
They’ve sat there for as long as I’ve been going. Through two four-year Storm sports careers of older sisters Emily and Rylee. Lifelong Storm fans, they’ll still be there long after this writing, too. 
I can’t help but smile seeing Erin carrying in her comfy stadium seat. While she has it, she doesn’t use it very often.
Erin is always on her feet, serving up the loudest cheers in the gym consistently, not just for her daughters, but for the entire HPC team. 
Never quiet, never negative. 
They were there on Thursday night to support a volleyball team and begin the healing process. 
And who was the loudest throughout the night? I don’t have to tell you. 
Volleyball was played and while it likely wasn’t the most important thing that night, it was normal for everyone, which was absolutely needed. 
There were smiles on the court. Laughter. Teamwork. Healing. A sense of togetherness. 
The Storm broke each team huddle with the chant, P4P! Every time someone subbed out of the game, they tapped the seat at the front of the bench with Payton’s jersey. 
High Plains didn’t win in the scorebook that night, but they won in the game of life. They won as people. 
Many of Central Nebraska’s youth won last week, too. Many volleyball teams showed support for HPC through blue and red hair ribbons. 
There’s plenty of good left in the world and it was emotional to see that from so many of our youth supporting one another.
It was also incredible to see the display of support from Nebraska Christian, the team on the other side of the net, presenting white roses to the High Plains players as well as to the Ackerson family. 
It was all the team’s idea, Hunnicutt told me. Another sign of the good-natured youth we have around here. 
The healing really started from that point forward, though. On any normal game night, the bleachers begin to clear out the moment the final volleyball hits the floor on match point. 
Not Thursday.
Not one person left their seat. Everyone stayed to pray, support and lift up HPC and the Ackerson family in a show of support that makes my eyes well up just typing this. 
Everyone stayed to take pictures. Laugh. Hug. Cry. Just be together. 
The healing will continue. It will never be easy. However, the love and support in the Storm community is unmatched. 
Play for Payton. Play with purpose. 
RICHARD RHODEN can be reached at sports@hamilton.net.