A number is just a number, until you put it on the back of a jersey. Then it becomes something much more.
Every season, I photograph Woodford County athletes wearing numbers that, from the sideline, don’t seem to require much thought. There’s a 7 streaking down the soccer field, an 11 lining up for another play or a 19 chasing down a ball.
I’ve spent plenty of time identifying athletes by those numbers, but I never really stopped to wonder why they were wearing them.
So I asked.
I put the question out on Instagram: Why do you wear your number?
The answers reminded me that sometimes there’s a lot more on the back of a jersey than a number.
For Lexi Zuber, it starts with nine.
Her mother wore number 9, so Zuber wears the same number for her club volleyball team. For her Woodford County number, she found a simple way to keep nine with her.
“My mom was 9, so I’m 9 for my club team and 19 for high school because it’s 9 with a 1 in front,” Zuber said.
Sometimes it really is that simple.
But that little 9 on the end of 19 means something.
Brayden Humston doesn’t wear his older brother Cole’s number. He wears the one right beside it.
Humston’s older brother wore number 12. As the brothers grew up and had more opportunities to play sports together, Humston wanted a number that connected them. So he chose number 11.
“I wanted to choose a number that was close to him and also represented our stance as brothers,” Humston said. “Him being 12 representing how he is older, and me being 11 representing how I am the younger brother definitely brought a different feeling to my game and not only how I play but who I play for.”
For Woodford County lacrosse player Nolan Sutterlin, number 1 represents something different.
It represents the kind of teammate he hopes to be.
Sutterlin wears the number in honor of Reid Sayre, an older Woodford lacrosse player who took Sutterlin under his wing when he was a freshman.
“I wear my number for Reid Sayre,” Sutterlin said. “When I was a freshman, Reid would always take me to practice and take me home and things like that whenever I needed it. If I felt like I played bad at practice, Reid would cheer me up and tell me that everyone has bad days.”
Now Sutterlin wants to do the same for someone else.
“I wear number 1 to be more like him and be a mentor or guide for younger lacrosse players like Reid was for me,” Sutterlin said.
The number honors Sayre, but what it represents doesn’t have to stop with him.
Then there is cross country runner Gavyn Burns.
He doesn’t have one number. He has a collection of them.
Cross country runners receive different bib numbers at races throughout the season. Burns sees each one as a reminder of a particular starting line, course and experience.
“Every one can tell a story – a story of a race, of a course, or sometimes, just a really fun time,” said Burns.
He keeps his numbers and hangs them on his wall.
“Seeing that number hanging on my wall shows that I had the guts to get on the line and run a race that day, but it also shows all the PRs, pain, hills, fast finishes and improvement that goes with you as the season progresses,” Burns said.
For him, no single number matters.
They’re all special because each one tells him where he’s been.
Of course, some Woodford County athletes don’t get a number at all.
Golfers don’t have one stitched onto their backs. There isn’t a number 7 standing over a four-foot putt or a number 19 walking toward the next tee.
Woodford County golfer Abigail Caine wears something else – a Boston Red Sox cap.
For those who know me, I usually have on a Red Sox cap, and wearing one on the golf course gives Caine her own way of staying connected to me while she competes.
No number required.
Sometimes what an athlete wears isn’t about helping someone in the stands identify them. Sometimes it’s about reminding the athlete of someone important.
Then there is Jorge Sanchez.
His story with number 7 has lasted most of his life.
Sanchez’s father, Luis Sanchez, taught him the game of soccer. Luis wore number 7, and Jorge wanted to be like him.
So he wore 7.
“I just always wanted to represent my dad,” Sanchez said.
But when Sanchez arrived at Woodford County High School as a freshman in 2004, someone else wore 7.
Senior Ryan Wood wore number 7, and Sanchez remembers looking up to him. Sanchez considers Wood perhaps the best player he has seen at Woodford.
Wood helped lead the Yellow Jackets to the state tournament that season, the program’s second trip to state. Sanchez was selected for the varsity postseason roster as a freshman but didn’t play.
His sophomore year came around.
Still no 7.
Someone else got it, so Sanchez chose 17. It was the closest he could get.
The same thing happened his junior year.
Finally, as a senior, number 7 was his.
It was the number his dad wore. It was the number Sanchez had worn growing up. And now it was the number he could finally wear for Woodford County.
Sanchez hoped to help lead the Yellow Jackets to state like Wood had done when Sanchez was a freshman.
They fell short.
But Sanchez’s connection to Woodford soccer didn’t end when he took off number 7 for the final time.
Nineteen years later, he returned to the program as an assistant coach.
“I’ve just always felt Woodford’s soccer program has always been a top program and has produced top players,” Sanchez said. “I wanted to help lead the high school team to state one day.”
From the stands and sidelines, we see the number.
The athletes see the person, place or something special behind it.