Watch the Rhode Island Little League Coach Remind Us What the Game Is Really About (Video)

Watch Road Island Little League coach Dave Belisle deliver a post-game speech his team will never forget.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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On Monday night, the Cumberland American Little League team from Rhode Island crashed out of the Little League World Series following a heartbreaking 8-7 loss to the Jackie Robinson West team from Chicago. The kids were visibly upset, as any 12-year-old would be after seeing their dream come to an end, but their coach Dave Belisle delivered a post-game message that his team will remember long after they forget about this defeat. Belisle told the kids how proud he was to have coached this team, said they had nothing to hang their heads about, and perhaps most importantly, said that they deserved to have fun.

Belisle hit on all the fundamentals that have been overshadowed in youth sports over the last few years. That at its very core the game is about having fun, trying your hardest, and playing together as a team. “I’m getting to be an old man. I need memories like this. I need kids like this. You’re all my boys. The boys of summer,” said Belisle as he embraced his team one last time. Grab a Kleenex or two, and watch his speech in all its glory, above.

[via CBS Sports]

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