Ben Guest Assignment: Free Write
I must admit, having had no previous experience, I was definitely a little apprehensive about being the head track coach, but this past Friday was our first meet and all things considered, I would have to say that things went fairly. Our season got off to a rough start, what with starting two months later than other schools in the area and having very few participants show up for those first couple of practices, but things started to come together for us and our meet at Lewisburg High School was a perfect debut for our team. With only four schools competing, it was very easy to place, and ribbons were awarded for first, second, and third place for each of the twenty events. There were a few students who let us down, by no fault other than their own, but there were many more that really pulled through. To shed some light on each, allow me to elaborate on the two students that best exemplify the dichotomy that I witnessed.
Tiara Golden is a girl who only shows up to practice on the rarest of occasions, and when she does, she provides any and every possible excuse imaginable to avoid completing her workouts. As the other girls competing in the Girl's 200 Meter toed the starting line, Tiara came barreling down from the track entrance gate as not to miss her event, and nearly tripped in the process. Upon reaching the starting line, she proceeded to tie her shoe and requested that the starter refrain from firing the pistol. When he can no longer wait, he fired the gun, Tiara jumped to her feet while muttering an expletive, and took off after the other girls. Coming around the last curve of her last lap, she slowed, and slowed, until finally she walked. After completing her event well behind all of the other girls, she said, and I quote directly, "I was about to fall out. My eyes started closing, and I was breathing heavy. I was, I was, I was like a fat person. I ain't ever going to miss practice again," and all I could do was wonder how truthful that promise really was. I guess I'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see if she shows up, and to see how willing she is to work towards improvement.
Dameon Phillips, on the other hand, is a boy that depending on the situation and circumstance, the other kids affectionately or critically call Scoop; a nickname has never so perfectly fit a child's demeanor and physical stature. Dameon is a boy who, despite not being very good at anything at all, shows up to practice every day and works as hard as he possibly can, with only minimal amounts of complaining. No matter how bad a kid is, if he's got that much heart and dedication, you can't just kick him off the team, but no one really expected him to accomplish very much over the season. He sure proved all of us wrong on Friday though, as he ran his little heart out to place third in the Boy's 400 Meter, missing second by only a fraction of a second. Everyone on the team cheered wildly, and I don't think I have ever been more proud of a child. Successes like that make it a lot easier to tune out the apathy and lack of dedication many of the other participants on the team exhibit.
All in all, I really do like coaching, quite a bit actually. I'm not too sure if I'm doing anything to help these children improve their running, but in terms of boosting their self-esteem and talking to them about matters outside of school, there I think I'm doing all right.
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