The coach who kept you on the team when you weren’t good yet gave you a year you didn’t earn. Pay it forward.

Somebody spent a roster place on what you might become rather than what you could do that season. That costs them something real: a game, a result, a parent asking questions. A year you did not earn is a year somebody else chose to give you.

The repayment is not to the coach, it is sideways. Be the one who passes to the kid who never gets passed to, who stands with the new player in warm ups, who says the quiet encouraging thing nobody asked for. You can start that at the next practice.