High School Football Team Shows Support For Opposing Player After Big Game

November 2, 2022

A Pennsylvania high school football team — along with other students, teachers, parents, and staff — showed an incredible act of kindness toward an opposing player after their game last weekend.

Coatesville players gather to show compassion for a rival player / Credit: Rachael Taylor Wilson

Avon Grove High School hosted Coatesville High School last Friday night. After a hard fought game to end the regular season, both teams gathered at midfield to present Gavin Picard with balloons and a gift.

Picard, a star player for Avon Grove, was recently diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Credit: GoFundMe

"After an emotional week for one of our football players (#6, we've got you) and the emotions of our last game for our seniors, Coatesville players and coaches came up to our team after the game to show their support of our #6 Gavin Picard. Ballons in the color of Gavin's cancer ribbon and a #6 balloon. There were not very many dry eyes in the stadium," Rachael Taylor Wilson wrote in a Facebook post.

"Class act all the way.. football is more than wins and losses. It's a brotherhood, a bond like no other... sometimes the kids show the adults what life is really about," she said.

A friend of the Picard family launched a GoFundMe page to raise funds for Gavin's cancer treatment. On Oct. 29, she posted an update that he completed his first round of chemo.