Although the chapel bulletins were red, students were focused on only two colors: purple and gold.

As they settled into the benches this morning, excited murmurs rippled through the audience. Though Kinkaid Week is always a blur of pep rallies and out-of-uniform days, this morning’s Kinkaid Chapel offered a chance for students to relax and reflect on sportsmanship.

Seniors Hannah Tyler and Elizabeth Elrod sang “Riptide” by Vance Joy before the speech by Head Boys’ Soccer Coach Ziad Allan.

Allan coached soccer at Kinkaid for 16 years before switching to SJS. This is his second year coaching at SJS.

“It is my new family. It is my forever home,” he said.

Early games against Kinkaid were awkward for Allan.

“When we played against them, kids I coached for many years would hear my voice from the sidelines and still think that I was coaching them,” he said.

Kinkaid has always been a formidable rival to SJS, especially in terms of football. With injuries keeping out several key players, Mavericks will have to bring their best endeavors to the field. Allan encourages students not to view failure negatively.

“You will lose sometimes. How you handle it, is your choice,” he said, “Like Michael Jordan said, ‘I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career and lost almost 300 games. 20 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot, and I missed. I failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

As for the results of the game, Allan remained optimistic.

“Let us play to win. But remember, should we lose, we can do it with dignity and grace and know that losing is merely a stepping stone for tomorrow’s success,” he said.

Mavericks will head into their ninth football game of the season against Kinkaid this Friday. The game will be held at Rice Stadium.