We spend so much time getting caught up in the wins and losses, the goals and saves and the numbers of sports that we often forget that the games are played by and for humans. At their best, athletics have the potential to heal and transform and renew wounded broken spirits.

A big thanks to reader Jim Manchester for pointing out a wonderful story from The State newspaper in South Carolina on how the Summerville High School football team is helping one woman, the wife of one of nine firemen killed fighting a June blaze in Charleston, cope with her loss and go on with her life.