Yesterday our local PTA/PTSA organization held the annual Junior Olympics event. Every elementary school in the district prepares teams of students for track events, such as relay teams, running long jump or softball throw, and volleyball games. I have been lucky enough to be a co-coach for our volleyball team for several years now. It is always a fun time for the kids and the adults alike (However exhausted we all are at the end!)
This year’s team is what this blog post is about. We held try-outs back in February. Unlike previous years, there was no volleyball instruction during our physical education rotation at the beginning of the year. There were two students who had played for last year’s team who wanted to return. That means we were going to have a very inexperienced group of kids who were going to play together. Try-outs were fun, but made the adults worried as to how we would do in the official games. Previous years have made it to the finals, but never placed very high. I believe 8th was the highest. Considering we are a large district of 18 elementary schools, 8th is still very good. It is all about the fun the students have anyway. As the newly formed team started practicing, we had two students drop out who needed to be replaced. It was about the end of the 1st month (out of 2) of practices that we finally had a team of students who were playing in the Junior Olympics. Unfortunately, the other coach is a guest teacher around the district could not make all the practices and I was out at least once for a conference. (Thankfully the other coach was my guest teacher!) So even though we had a full team who were almost always around, the coaches weren’t able to be at every practice. (Two middle school former players were a big help as junior coaches though, making it to all but 1 practice!) As the practices progressed, I noticed that the students were getting better, in spite of a lack of experience or at least one coach missing for each practice. They were taking the initiative to practice as a team almost every recess and lunch period. One of the returning players was helping a new player perfect her serve. (She couldn’t get over the net in the beginning and became one of the most consistent servers by the end). Suddenly players were moving better to go after the ball. Players were communicating without being told by the coaches. There was no pressure by the adults to do it, they were making changes because of each other. Yesterday when it came time to actually play in the tournament, we had a cohesive team. They were hanging out together before the matches started and worked as a team once we did play. Not only did we win our first 6 matches, the kids were having a lot of fun. At one point as we lost our first game, we talked about how strong they are when they work together. They had temporarily forgotten they were supposed to have fun and that they could rely on each other. Although we lost the next game as well, they went back to playing as a team and made the other team really work for the win. By the end of the day, we earned 4th place ribbons (higher than the school has earned for as long as I can remember and much higher than we thought when we started this adventure together). Of course the adults never shared our doubts with the students in the beginning. We definitely shared our praise with not just their wins on the court, but how proud we were that they came together as a team. Without the ability to work as a team, they never would have made it to the ribbon round. I am very proud of what they accomplished together!
1 Comment
Audra Steele
4/9/2017 08:58:10 pm
Congrats! I remember my last year at Justin. We had a new and very young team. All but 2 players were 4th graders. They had a heart that would not give up. We lost every game that year, but the kids had fun. I remember praising them for their effort. I left Junior Olympics feeling happy. The kids had fun and had improved. Some day, I may watch them on a high school team. Team work is important no matter who takes first place!
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Author20+ year teacher, mother of 2 kids and 2 dogs, wife, lover of all things M&M, interested in tech in the classroom, and changing up my teaching Archives
March 2020
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