One Tiger, Many Stripes

This blog has been misnamed. It should be Week to Week Living. It was brought to my attention that I haven't posted for a while. Have I been getting in my 10K words a day? I assure you I have. :) Work days consist of more words than that, I'm almost certain. The first couple of days back this week were a bit challenging. Though my body returned to work, my voice remained on vacation. Frustration is inevitable when you're standing in front of 40 teenagers and they can't hear your instructions. But, I've been blessed with compassionate students and they tried extra hard to sit in complete silence while those in the front conveyed my messages. Several of them even wished me better health throughout the day. I could have found myself in a room completely out of control without the means to gain any. Instead it was as if they were trying to take care of me. High fives to all of their parents for raising such great kids.

This was week two of swim season. We've had 24 kids out at practice consistently. There are almost 60 names on my roster of students who have told me they want to join. Where are the rest of them? I have a handful who are still finishing out their club sessions, two handfuls who are still finishing their winter sports seasons, and inevitably a handful of slackers. We're up to about 10 students who are out there and have never competed before. They can get themselves across the pool but not by any stroke recognized in the sport. The other head coach has taken them on. He's amazing with them and all of them have made huge improvements since last week. We have new kids almost every day that see us out there and come ask if they can join the team. It's very exciting. For the first time in my life I am seeing the stereotype of who participates in aquatics sports disappear. "One tiger, many stripes."

While he's working with the newbies I'm working with the rest of them. I was nervous about coaching the varsity kids before season began because I wasn't sure if I'd have enough to teach them to make a difference. If I had to sit down and write out what I know about swimming, the list probably wouldn't be very long. However, when I'm on the deck and watching them complete the sets I never seem to run out of things to say. I can point out things to every one of them. It's not that I'm being critical; we're focusing a lot on technique right now and trying to correct minor imperfections in order to shave off time in their races. I can't wait for the meets to start so that I can keep track of their times and see how things go. Two of my water polo boys are competing tomorrow at JOs (Junior Olympics). I should be there to watch them, but it's down in Bakersfield and I'm not quite sold on the idea of driving all the way down there for a 30 second race. Anyway, there's a lot of excitement ahead for the season.

I did have a minor fit on the pool deck earlier this week, but it was only in front of the coaches. Do you remember when you were little and wanted to do something, you'd ask whichever parent was more likely to say yes? And then often times they would tell you to go ask the other parent? My athletes know that game all too well. The problem is that the other head coach and I have different view points. When he was in high school, polo and swimming were his only concerns so he was 100% dedicated to it. I was more concerned with being a student and just did athletics for the fun of it. I loved it, but I wasn't looking to make a career out of it. I was committed to the team, but there were days when AP reviews and club activities and probably 100 other things also had to squeeze into my schedule. I understand that missing the first hour of practice to make up a test is an acceptable excuse. I want my athletes to be 4.0 students. The other coach wants their grades to be good, but he wants them at practice. So, I'm the easy going one and he's the strict one. I want to allow certain things but he often times has already told them no and so I have to be consistent as to not undermine his authority with them. My fit was this: "I'm not ready to be a parent." Can't say I know for certain, but I'm pretty sure that coaching is a lot like parenting. In my classroom I make the rules and that's that. On the pool deck I have to compromise on the rules and work every day at being consistent. He is already a parent so it's not a big deal to him. But me? Oh man this is a hard lesson to learn! That's the part of the job I don't like.

The good news is every day I am getting better at collaborating with other adults, being fair in the way I treat students, being clear in my expectations, consistent in my follow through, and my goodness I'm becoming incredibly patient. My job isn't just to teach young adults the knowledge and skills they need to know to move forward. My job is teaching me the knowledge and skills I need to know to move forward. That's pretty incredible. :)