By Tucker McLaughlin, Jr.
News & Record staff

If there were one concept that seems to get over played in sports, it would
be the notion of how teams overcome adversity in a game, or a season.
Adversity is a theme the Halifax County varsity girls' soccer team knows all
too painfully. The Comets, who saw their season end Monday night with a loss to GW-Danville in the district tournament, have dealt with some tough injuries,
inconsistency at times, and other typical issues that prep teams face.
But few teams have had to deal with the tragic loss of a teammate just
before the start of the season. Krystina Hooker was a sweet, bubbly, enthusiastic soccer player who was expected to play goalkeeper for the Comets. But the 17-year-old was suddenly taken away in a tragic automobile accident just before the start of the season. Dealing with teenage years is difficult enough without having to go through that kind of searing loss. And Krystina's older sister and Comet teammate, Krystal Hooker, had to press
on, leaning on her family, her teammates and coaches for support.
The Comets dedicated the season to Krystina, with a sign at the stadium that
bears her name and a special refrain after every game. It would have made for a storybook finish to report that these Comets  dominated the opposition, but that has not been the case. After a blazing start, Halifax suffered a tough road loss marred by controversy at E.C. Glass. Then, Halifax bounced back with a win over archrival GW-Danville, but has struggled since. Nevertheless, it's important to cast all this in the proper perspective. These girls have had to deal with one of the toughest hands life can dish out, losing a teammate in such a tragic way.
Their support, love and caring for each other has been remarkable, in a
spring season unlike any other in recent memory in Cometland.
Veteran HCHS coach Sid Young has been pleased and impressed with the way
these Comets (8-8 overall at season's end) have responded.
"They have been very supportive of each other, especially of Krystal," Young
said last week. "A tragedy like that can either tear you apart or make you closer together, and they've been extremely close, I think, this year.
"They're like family in a lot of ways, and they take care of each other,
look after each other," said Young. The players helped spearhead a remarkable effort to establish a memorial scholarship in Krystina's honor, almost immediately after the tragedy. "We've had tremendous community support, with the scholarship, and the (fund-raising) benefit they had," said Young. "Businesses and individuals have contributed to the scholarship fund."
From this loss, there will be an annual effort to send deserving young
people to 4-H camp, which had been a passion for Krystina. Also, the
scholarship monies will assist future students heading to college with
financial support. Krystal and her family have been touched by the support of the community with the scholarship efforts. "The community completely surprised me, especially when Dane (Ferguson) did
the benefit concert. I was just expecting maybe a couple hundred dollars
most, and everybody came out and we ended up doing a lot, even the
businesses and stuff, putting forth donations to keep her memory goingS"
said Krystal. The Comet senior is planning to attend UNC-Greensboro next fall, and eventually hopes to become a pediatrician. She understands how tangible and valuable the scholarship support will be to deserving recipients.
"I'm glad that her memory is to go out and help somebody who maybe isn't as
financially able to go forth and get their dreams. I know we've struggled,
and mom always made sure that we still we were able to go out and do what we aspired. She always pushed us to not give up, and not let that stuff stand
in the way. "So people doing that with her name on top of it, it's amazing," said
Krystal. And Krystina Hooker will be remembered for a long time in a very significant way.  -- Recently, Krystal Hooker and two of her teammates shared their thoughts about the season, and how this remarkable group of young ladies has bonded together. "They've all really been there and been really understanding, especially when   I've gone on my emotional flips,
"Just been supportive about everything. It's really been like having another
family there," Krystal said. The season has "gone well. We've played together, worked hard, really hard, gotten mad, kept together when it was rough," said Krystal. "We've just worked really hard and all played well together, had a great season, I think." Meredith Elliott elaborated, "I think the season's gone fairly well, even though we've lost a couple of games. We've put our heart into it; it's not like we're just playing for us, we're playing for other people also, trying to do our best to support everybody out there." The season has extra meaning. "We've tried hard. It's meant a lot, it's meant more, I think, this season
than it has in the previous seasons, a lot more .We're trying our best just
to prove that we can do it," said Elliott. Chemistry is very important for any team that has success and that appears to have been particularly important here.
"We kind of put aside our differences Seven if we had troubles off the field,
on the field it's like one family, we're together, no matter what happened
off the field, we're going to pull together and try and do our do our best
to make everybody proud of us," said Elliott. Mary Beale also explained these Comets, who head to the Western Valley district tournament next week, are not playing for just themselves anymore. "We remember Krystina all the time.
"Everytime I step out on the field, every time a lot of the other girls step
on the field, we think about her and how much she loved to play, and she
doesn't really get that chance to play anymore. "We just want to play our hardest now in memory of her because that's what she wants us to do. She wants us to play with class, she wants us to play with sportsmanship.
"I think we came closer together Seven though we were close. It's made us
closer. We were friends and now we've become sisters.
"At first, we really didn't think we could make it through, but we were
always there, supporting each other, and there to comfort each other, so
that's a really big help with us," said Beale.  In a spiritual sense, Krystina has been there all along this spring. From this loss, senior goalkeeper Leah Yosich has stepped up to provide sparkling leadership. Beale, a junior who hopes to return to the Comet program next year, explained what this season has meant to her in an eloquent, poignant manner. "It meant a whole lot. Even though we haven't won that many games Sit's the most talent we've ever had. "At first, we were scared without Krystina, but Leah, she stepped up so "I feel like Krystina has been with her, and it means so much to me, and the community
"I think we just came together and tried to play our hardest. "We gave E.C. Glass, Franklin County hard time. We were able to stick with
them." "Even though we don't win that many games, I think we've been playing well together," said Beale. Elliott, also a junior, said, "It's meant everything Seven stepping on the field, and she's not there physically. But you look around, you know she's there, like, the blue net that's faded to purple, and even on the rainiest days, there's some sign there that knowing she's there.
"It doesn't matter how ugly the weather is, she's there," said Elliott. The players are still trying to sort this out, find answers. One player, Emily Seat, penned her thoughts. "I know that her memory has affected us a great deal. Every day we have a game, I always talk to Krystina sometime that day and ask her to be with us in the game. I visit her grave before games sometimes, and I have
occasionally other times, like on Easter," the Comet senior wrote.
"Krystina was a big part of this team, the enthusiasm and heart she had was
amazing. I was so excited for her to be with us this year. I know
everything happens for a reason and I know if Krystina was here we might not
have seen what Leah could do this year. But I still wonder what would be
different if she was. I know she isn't here with us physically, but I can
feel her during the game. The heart in all of us is doubled for the games
because Krystina is there too. "When we lose or don't have a good game, all I can think of is "we let her down." That's probably been one of the hardest things to deal with this year. When Krystina died, at her visitation I hugged Patricia (Hooker-Moss, Krystina's mom) and I told her "this season's for Krystina." And it has been. Even though sometimes we don't always get it "right" in the games, I know she's still there with us pushing on. I know we have a strong, close team already but this tragedy has made us so much closer.
"It has taught me to live every day to the fullest, because that's how she
lived and I'm sure she had no regrets. Everytime we have a game, during the National Anthem, I look up because I'm looking at our angel. Everytime we score, I look up and I thank our angel," Seat observed.  "Everytime I fall, I feel our angel help me back up. And everytime we win, I feel our angel when we celebrate. She's here with us all through all the sweat, tears, and blood, and I'm proud to play in her name." At the end of each game, these Comets have bonded together, for a simple remembrance, a final testimony.
"One, two, three...Krystina"