Grief is a Team Sport

Football mirrors the stages of grief in powerful ways...

Grief, like football, isn’t a solo game. It’s something we move through together — through setbacks, recoveries, and shared victories. Just as a team learns to regroup after loss, we, too, heal best when surrounded by people who show up, listen, and stay.

There’s no playbook for grief. Every loss feels different, every story personal. Healing often begins when we learn to speak the language of the one who’s grieving. For some, that language is music, maybe their faith, art, or nature.

For him — it is football. 

Football was more than a sport between father and son — it was their bond. Early mornings, game-day rituals, and quiet postgame talks were where love lived. When his dad passed, the stadium felt quieter, the cheers emptier. Yet, in those same memories lay a space for healing — a field where grief and love could coexist.

The Game Plan of Grief

Football mirrors the stages of grief in powerful ways:

• Pre-Season (Denial): We hope life will return to normal, just as a team hopes an injury isn’t serious. Denial protects us until we’re ready to face reality.

• The Tough Loss (Anger): Emotions run high when the score doesn’t go our way. Anger in grief shows how deeply we care.

• The Replay Room (Bargaining): We review the “what ifs” and “if onlys,” trying to rewrite what was never in our control.

• The Locker Room Silence (Depression): When the noise fades, the quiet feels heavy. This is when we most need our team — the people who sit beside us, even when words fail.

• The Next Season (Acceptance): Acceptance isn’t forgetting; it’s learning to play again with a changed heart, carrying love forward, just in a new form.
  

Community Is the Team

In both football and life, no one wins alone. Every player needs teammates, coaches, and fans; the people who cheer, guide, and lift us when we fall. Although, grief doesn’t get easier because we’re strong; it gets lighter because we’re supported.

Carrying the Legacy

Healing doesn’t erase the past but it does carry it forward. Maybe it’s watching the next game in a loved one’s jersey, coaching the next generation, or simply remembering that the lessons and love still live on. Sometimes, the game never ends — it just changes fields.

Just as a helmet protects players from impact, protective factors like love, faith, community, and resilience protect us through life’s hardest hits. Although they don’t stop the tackles, they can soften the hits. 

So, ask yourself:

Who’s on your team?

What’s written on your helmet — the things that keep you strong?

Because grief, like football, isn’t about never falling.

It’s about getting back up together.