COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - As her teammates spoke, Tate Schroeder knew she had to be straight up.
She was sitting at a table with her fellow Missouri tennis players in the team meeting room. It was the first week of the fall 2016 semester, and the cool air conditioning felt like refuge from the August heat.
The players were sharing what coach Colt Gaston calls “why statements.” They were telling each other their motivation for playing tennis and explaining what kept them going.
Schroeder’s “why” comes from a person she never met.
The Columbia Missourian (https://bit.ly/2pGn8Fk ) reports that she remembers the date with zero hesitation: Dec. 13, 2013. She was in an Arapahoe High School classroom in Centennial, Colorado, working on a math review when she heard shots ring out close by. Then there were more shots, and she huddled under a table until police evacuated the classroom.
The person she didn’t know, senior Claire Davis, died eight days later. Other than the killer, Davis was the only person who lost her life - a random victim.
Three years have passed, but Schroeder said she still thinks of the shooting every day. Fireworks and loud bangs trigger memories.
“It’s a part of me,” Schroeder said. “It’s part of who I am, and it’s part of what makes me strong.”
Although they had friends in common, Schroeder never met Davis. Still, before every match, the Missouri freshman scrawls the initials “CD” on her left wrist in black marker. It’s a simple tribute, a remembrance of pain and loss of a girl who rode horses and was a fan of the band One Direction.
“The fear of that day will never leave her,” said Teresa Shear, Schroeder’s mother. “That moment changed her forever. It changed her, and she’ll always remember Claire, and she’ll always play for Claire.”
’Strength for the battle’
It was the first day back from winter break - the first day back after the shooting - and Schroeder was in the bleachers in the Arapahoe gymnasium for an assembly. Michael Davis, Claire’s father, was speaking to the students, teachers and staff.
“If you consciously and deliberately choose to practice love and compassion in your life, you will always find the strength for the battle,” he told the crowd, according to a Denver Post transcript of his remarks. “You will always find the courage to move forward, and you will always have the strength to resist the temptation to give up or fall into despair.”
The message stuck with Schroeder. She recites one phrase almost word for word: “Consciously and deliberately choose to practice love.”
Desiree Davis, Claire’s mother, said the family felt it was their duty to the community to preach love and forgiveness after the shooting. She was touched to learn that the message had such an impact on Schroeder.
“It’s easy to keep walking through life and then forget about what’s happened to you,” Desiree Davis said. “And for us, we’re very honored that (Schroeder) has chosen to take a terrible tragedy that she experienced, as well, and turn it into something so positive.”
Gaston remembers the Missouri tennis team focusing intensely on Schroeder as she spoke at the meeting. The Missouri coach said it wasn’t typical Tate, talking about something so serious, but honoring Davis was clearly important to her.
“What a special kid to have that kind of message,” he said.
Just a few months after the shooting, Schroeder won the Colorado high school state tennis tournament, and she dedicated the title to Davis.
“She didn’t get to do a lot of the things that she was supposed to do,” Schroeder said. “So I’m trying to accomplish as many things with her with me - on the court and off the court - as many things as I could possibly do in her name.”
Schroeder is consciously and deliberately pursuing the sport she loves, and she tries to be cognizant of how she treats those around her. She’s trying to live according to the Davis family’s message.
She said she hopes to eventually get in contact with the Davis family. She wants them to know how much their daughter impacted her life.
Schroeder keeps a small picture of Davis in her tennis bag. In it, Davis’ brown hair falls over her shoulders, and she smiles widely with the sun on her face.
The shooting is still ingrained in Schroeder’s memory but so are the Davis’ lessons of strength and love.
“If she were my daughter,” Desiree Davis said, “I would be very, very proud of her.”
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Information from: Columbia Missourian, https://www.columbiamissourian.com
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