Fans of the Chicago Cubs are well known for the sentiment expressed by the phrase, “Wait until next year.” In Chicago, however, the “next year” they are hoping for never seems to come.

So many life lessons are learned from sports in general, and I have been reminded recently of one of the many reasons I am intrigued by sports as an analogy for life.

The fall high school sports season has been filled with examples of teams who have raised their game to new heights after those programs had experienced noteworthy lows.

There is a great lesson to be learned from these young athletes as we see that the real test of character in sports is not found in trophies won, but in participants who show us that victory is earned when those who fall refuse to stay down, but instead choose to rise again.

The football team at Woodcreek High School endured an 0-10 campaign in 2007, coach John Hildebrand’s first year at the helm. One year later, the current edition of the Timberwolves is preparing itself this week for the first postseason game in school history.

Woodcreek worked its way to a 5-5 record this season, and finished third in one of the area’s toughest leagues to earn a playoff berth.

The girls volleyball team at Roseville High School was also winless in the Sierra Foothill League in 2007 before dusting itself off for a playoff-worthy 5-7 mark in 2008.

The Sac-Joaquin Section soccer final played on Saturday night at Folsom High School featured two teams with different types of comeback stories, as Granite Bay knocked off its neighbor from Oakmont for the title.

The Grizzlies were on top of the world midway through the 2007 soccer season, having achieved a No. 7 ranking in the nation. All of that acclaim came crashing down during a trip to a tournament in Missouri, which ended with eight players suspended for the remainder of the season for bad choices made.

The remains of that team still reached the section semifinal before bowing out of the playoffs, but coach Steve Fischer and his squad saw 2008 as a year of redemption to restore the good name of their program.

The Grizzlies put together a magical season, including a 12-0 run through the SFL schedule, and capped it with a 5-2 win in the section title contest.

On the opposite sidelines at the section tourney was a team with a far different story of rising from the bad times. In the interest of full disclosure, I must state that I have a personal interest in the Oakmont soccer story.

My oldest son was a player on the 2002 and 2003 Viking soccer teams, the last two Oakmont boys soccer teams to reach the playoffs before this season. My second son lived through the lean years at Oakmont, as the team struggled for wins wherever they could find them.

He finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel when first-year coach Mark Broers brought the team back to the middle of the pack in 2007, my son’s senior season.

This year’s Vikings lifted themselves to new heights, finishing third in the SFL and then winning a pair of playoff games before giving Granite Bay all it could handle on Saturday night.

The message I take out of this is as much about the lives of each of us as it is about sports. We spend precious space in the sports page celebrating teams who win championships.

The true definition of championship, it seems to me, is not in winning a banner or a trophy, since precious few experience that level of success. A championship is really all about the journey, as we rise again each time we fall.

Surely that is something to savor for the Chicago Cub fan in each of us as we wait until “this year”.