The iconic photo accompanying this story has been mounted on the wall in the office of St. Ed’s Head of School Mike Mersky for over two years. Precisely for what it symbolizes, it will be on display for years to come. It is also prominently featured on the school’s website under the heading “A Heart of Kindness.”
Britt Reisman was a sophomore goalie on St. Ed’s soccer team when that photo was taken. The Pirates had just hung a tough 4-3 overtime loss on arch rival Holy Trinity Episcopal in a semifinal district playoff match in 2017.
“We were in overtime and the first team to score wins,” Reisman recalled. “I knew some of the players on that team and I just went over to express my feelings about it being a tough loss for them. I told that guy that I would see him next year because I knew it would be his senior year. I just felt like I had to tell him that.”
St. Ed’s went on to defeat Pine School for the district championship that season, and naturally that was cause for celebration. It was a memorable moment to be sure, for that is the goal set forth by coaches and players at the start of the season. What took place in the semifinal, however, had an enormously profound impact on one person in attendance that day.
“I had the privilege to be a fan at Pirate Stadium when our varsity boys soccer team defeated Holy Trinity Episcopal in the winter of 2017,” Mersky wrote in an open letter to the community late last year. “The old cliché that a picture is worth a thousand words is appropriate, and it speaks volumes about Britt, his family, and the school setting that he has been a part of for, in essence, all of his educational life.
“I continue to be proud of that young man and all of our students as we guide and mentor them to have a heart of kindness with compassion and empathy for others.”
Reisman will graduate this year and has already signed to play D3 soccer at Hartwick College in New York. He will play with a competitive club team before leaving for the preseason in August.
“I have been playing soccer since I was 3 years old,” Reisman told us. “I love the sport and it means a lot to me. It brought me a lot of friends and taught me how to manage stress. Soccer is definitely a big part of who I am.
“My sports career at St. Edward’s has been pretty crazy. I wouldn’t have been able to get to college without (Academic Dean/Director of College Counseling) Ms. (Michele) Sternberg and all of my teachers. I wouldn’t have been able to do what I want to do in soccer at the college level without my coaches here. This place really made me who I am.”
It is clear that Reisman reveres his various lifelong experiences at St. Ed’s. We have briefly retold the story of the heart of kindness on display, but the endless ups and downs of zero-sum sports competition came full circle during his final high school soccer game.
On the heels of a spectacular regular season, the team was poised to challenge for a district title, with Holy Trinity the anticipated foe. The Pirates never got that far when they were upset 2-1 in the semis by Pine School, a team they had defeated twice during the regular season. This time that kindness needed to be turned inward.
“I thought we could have made it further, but it just didn’t work out,” Britt said. “It was a pretty sloppy game and we really couldn’t get anything going. They scored an early goal in overtime and we just couldn’t do anything on the attacking end. It was very unfortunate.
“There were a lot of tears. I didn’t cry that much at all, really. I was just there to support Will (Sternberg), the other senior (Chris Fashek), and a couple of the underclassmen.
“We only had three seniors and the coach (first-year head coach Pape Seye) focused on the younger kids, telling them to look forward to next year and consider this loss the starting point. But we all wanted it to be different.
“It was tough to go home in a situation like that. You just have to know that someone will win and someone will lose. Just about everybody has been there. It’s part of the game and everybody has to get used to it.
“When you see people that don’t know how to deal with it, you just have to help them move forward and try to enjoy the sport as much as possible.”
Like skills on the field, it is best to practice good sportsmanship under all circumstances.
Reisman will study in a pre-allied health program at Hartwick with a goal to pursue a doctorate in the physical therapy field.
