Growing Up Before Our Eyes (09-17-07)

This week I had the privilege to hang out with some pretty cool characters. I am referring, of course, to our brave and true Longfellow student athletes who have been playing some exciting volleyball and football. This week we traveled to Healy and then to Hays. We faced tough competition, fought hard, won some and lost some. Most of all though, it was a great week to watch some fine young people continue to grow up, right in front of our eyes.

The biggest difference I have found between junior high and senior high school sports is where the emphasis lies. In high school, the record is more important, with seeding for important sub-state tournaments depending on a school’s win/s and losses. At Junior High, their seems to be a greater emphasis on individual growth. Win or lose, junior high students are still young enough to appreciate the opportunity to play.

While I enjoyed all the games I was able to watch, and while I saw great improvement at all levels, I think I most enjoyed watching our newest and most inexperienced athletes who make up our second string and C team. This week, some of these kids got their first taste of intense competition. The football B team got to play a fifth quarter against the Dighton-Healy Diamondbacks, and our volleyball C-Team was all entered into the Felton tournament.

I found both experiences to be incredibly rewarding. Both the second string football players and the C-Team volleyball players are really just beginning their school athletic careers. These students often get little to no playing time, and while they get to practice , they are seriously lacking in actually game experience.

Because of this, when they get to be the stars of the show, they tend to grow up in a hurry. Their learning curve is still so steep. Everything from how to line up before the game, to how many points represent a winning margin, to even the most basic of playing skills, everything is new and different, and often difficult during the first go-round.

Much of the initial reaction to taking the court or field under to scrutiny of a crowd is controlled by nerves and adrenaline. But after time has passed, and after they begin to realize that the sky is not going to fall with mistakes and miscues, these tender young athletes begin to calm down and most importantly, they begin to learn.

And that’s where to fun comes into play – watching these kids begin to take chances, build confidence, and then have some success. Sure, at this level there is going to be more failure than success, and more mistakes than good play, but at the beginning level, it isn’t success or failure that matters, it is simply the act of getting in the game. It is being able to grab the spotlight, if even for just a little while, that makes all the difference in their development.

I want to thank our wonderful coaches and our fantastic athletic director for scheduling these fifth quarters and these C-Team tournaments. I would suppose that these games, especially, are particularly thankless. The crowds are small and the games are filled enough gaffs to make even the most optimistic coach shake their heads in frustration.

But then there those moments – those rare and special moments, where these beginning players do something right, really right, and all the frustration is replaced by the exhilaration and hope that springs from untapped potential.

Before you can walk, you have to learn to crawl. Some of our middle school students took important strides this week. I am glad I have been able to be there to watch them begin to grow up before our eyes.