Making them stronger

So I'm inspired again to put thoughts down to a blog.  Today, thinking, in 24 yrs I have had a lot of experience with raising daughters, I have 3 of my own and over the years I have had countless kids who I consider my children as well.  For 15 years I have been heavily involved in coaching girls softball, so I have seen my fair share of girls, from every background, every broken spirit, lack of confidence, scrappy attitude, lost and alone, troubled emotion, broken home, struggling to find their way kid.  Some of these girls need the push, need the support of someone other than a parent (to which their belief is mom/dad HAS to love me, its their job), need the person to scream to, to listen, to agree, to help sort it out, to see the spark in them that they sometimes cant see themselves.  I've seen it, I've watched girls who thought they were at the end of their rope, with enough pushing, supporting and dragging them back...they turn in to amazing people, stronger than before.  Ive heard "Im not strong enough", to where my response is, "you have no idea how strong you are, until your only option is to be strong.  you CAN and WILL win this".
There is so much that a teenage girl goes through during the time of 13-18, sometimes even longer or sometimes starting even sooner.  As I watch these girls fight and when they confide in me to help them, its so rewarding to see the outcome and to know you made a difference with them.  The girl drama they deal with at school, she called me a whore, slut, 2faced, skank... I know its age old and we all remember the crap in high school, doesn't make it right, but it sure helps to have someone that's been there to be by their side to fight with them.
Some take a little longer to convince, some fight the help harder than others, some snap right out and make things work.  Until they walk away from me, I will not give up on my girls.  Im leading by example, teaching them to be strong, independent, stand up for themselves and whats right, even if they have to stand alone at times and to share the experience and help a sister/teammate if they are going through the same thing.  I want to be the person that will forever be in their lives as the person they say "without her, I wouldn't be where I am now, she never gave up on me"