The Season That Nearly Wasn't

I recently tweeted that if I knew how to get a movie made, I would make one about this season of our Varsity Girls Basketball team.  Sadly, I do not know how to get a movie made.  I do, however, have a blog; so I suppose it is the best I can do to bring attention to this incredible story.

When tryouts started, there were simply not enough girls.  It isn't because we don't have enough female athletes.  We have tons of soccer and volleyball players who are committed to year-round teams, and we have a number of ladies on our swim team, whose season is concurrent with basketball.  As preparations for the season were to begin, there were only five players.  Apparently, that is not enough, so our coaches sent this e-mail to our senior English teacher.

This teacher, well known for her ability to convince students, made an impassioned speech to the senior girls.  In the words of one senior, "Her speech had no commas.  She's an English teacher, so she should really use commas."  Eight senior girls went home that night to tell their parents they wanted to be on the basketball team.  In the end, five of those girls were able to follow through to the team, one as stat bookkeeper, some taking the time to Google "rules of basketball."  Each of these girls was very athletic in other sports, but none had ever been on a basketball team.  Two of the players on this team were 8th graders, playing up to the varsity level.  The coaches of this team choose a word every year for the players to rally around; this year, they chose FIGHT.

Under the mentorship of our incredible coaches, Tonya and David Taylor, and their alumni assistant, Lizz Wilson, these eight girls went on to fight for each and every game.  They grew as individuals and as a team, and their season record was 16-7.  They played in the conference championship, were invited to States, and won the first round there.  The team that nearly wasn't blew away all expectations (or lack thereof).

To a woman, they have each also talked about how much fun they had this season.  Senior Reece Goodman said, "If I'd know it was this much fun, I'd have done it years ago."  When asked what advice they would give to rising seniors, several of them said, "Try something you've never done before."  What a great lesson this is for them to take into their adult lives.  The 8th graders were inspired to fight harder than they would have if they hadn't been watching the hustle in these first-year players.  Apparently, the players weren't the only ones having fun.  Coach David Taylor, known school wide for his funny and often sarcastic tweeting, has put up more sincere love for this team than ever.  He has been effusive about the fun he has had coaching them and how much they inspire him.  Here's a sample from my quick stalk of his feed.  There are many more and many that express his pride in great detail.

As a spectator, I'm proud whenever we play hard, regardless of the outcome.  This team and its coaches, however, will hold a special place in my heart forever.  The courage it took for the coaches to reach out and beg for help showed vulnerability at its finest.  The courage it took for those seniors who had never played before to put themselves in a place of potential humiliation showed the best of school spirit.  The fact that teams they have beaten don't know the story of the team that beat them makes me happy in ways I don't know how to express.

As a teacher, I try to make as many memories as possible.  When you look back on your school life, the days can blur together because so many of them are so similar.  Anything I can do to give a student a positive memory on which to look back, I'll do.  This may be my favorite thing about the story of this team.  As adults, they will be able to look back and remember this amazing season and the lessons they taught each other.  They will be able to tell their own children to do something new and share their experience.  They will remember these coaches and the impact they had forever.  These are days that will NOT blur into each other for them or for me.

Story Corp Reflections

I listen to a lot of podcasts.  I subscribe to quite a few - see this post on recommendations.  One of my favorites is Story Corp.  For those who don't know, Story Corp has been around for over a decade, with this mission: "StoryCorps’ mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world."  Last year, they began an initiative to have students record interviews using their app to interview parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, etc. during the Thanksgiving holiday.  They reached out to schools with the goal of having "an entire generation of stories recorded and preserved in one weekend."  

I missed it last year because listening to a lot of podcasts means rarely being current with any of them.  This year, however, I was ready.  I partnered with our 8th-grade history and English teachers, and we created a cross-curricular assignment.  Our students have a weekly blog, so we began by having them choose a person over the age of 50 that they wanted to interview and explain why on their blogs.  Then, the history teacher helped them write questions based on the age and experience of their chosen person.  I required only one question:  "What is the most important invention?"  Some students altered it a bit, to "What is the most important invention in your lifetime?" while others let it mean for all time, and I think some let the interviewee interpret the question for themselves.  

I had already had my students blog on what they thought the most important invention was.  As you might expect, I got a lot of answers involving phones and the internet, but I also got an interesting variety of other suggestions.  A diabetic student believed that synthetic insulin was most important, and a lot of students said that they really valued air conditioning.  We gave them from November until January to record their interviews because we knew that some of them may only see these people at holidays.  When they turned them in, each teacher had a different follow-up to the assignment.  Mine was another blog post.  What did your interviewee say was the most important invention and why.  Many of the interviewed said the printing press, something none of the students had thought of for their posts.  Quite a few talked about the wheel. That is my personal choice as well because none of the subsequent inventions get to you without it.  Some said the car, a valid choice to be sure.  I was surprised by how many said space travel.  If you would like to read any of their stories, their blog links are here.

These have been enjoyable reads for me, but it was really the act of interviewing that was the important part of this assignment.  If the teachers never listened to or followed up with the interviews (which, of course, we do), it would still be a valuable assignment.  Asking people of another generation questions about their perspective can only broaden our own.  Taking out the earbuds long enough to find out what your grandmother did while your grandfather was in the army or how your uncle started his own business or what your neighbor contributed to the world before becoming your neighbor has value beyond any academic standard.  This is the value of StoryCorp, and I look forward to assigning this again next year.

Hoops For Hope 2017

I have previously posted about our annual school event, Hoops for Hope.  It began in February of 2009.  Since that time, it has become a favorite tradition of our school.  It even has its own page in our yearbook.

Kay Yow was the long time coach of the NC State women's basketball team.  Even before her cancer diagnosis, she was much loved for her strength and perseverance.  After multiple battles with cancer, she became an icon and an inspiration.  It is for this reason that GRACE began our Hoops for Hope night in support of the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.  This year, we reached fifty thousand dollars in donations since starting the event.

This event is about fundraising, but it is also about the loving community that GRACE is.  Some years, girl students and female teachers have donated their hair to Children With Hair Loss.  Some years, male teachers have allowed students to shave their heads in exchange for raising a specific amount of money.  This year, our two upper school PE teachers allowed us to tape them to a wall on wheels and spin them around center court at half-time.  People bake cakes and make artwork to be sold in a silent auction.  High school art students donate their time for face painting.  We honor cancer survivors with flowers, candles, and prayer.  Of course, there is also a basketball game going on during all of this, and our fans rock the house.  It has been great, however, that over the years, our opponent has also gotten into the spirit of Hoops for Hope.  We choose a local team, and their fans can be part of the donating and the community spirit.  The night is streamed online for those who are unable to attend.  It is our mission statement in action.