Today was the first real challenge for our new group at Blackburn. Soccer Day. You either love it or you hate it. Most campers love it. Most instructors hate it. You can't decide until after you have led the workout.
Organized chaos is not easy to manage. But today, our instructors leading really stepped up to the plate. Take 30 people, most of whom have never seen the workout before & many of whom have never played organized soccer, interject three balls, ramdomly split the fitness levels and add a whistle and two girls screaming and you have the recipe for disaster. Unless you are the Blackburn Team. Today, the workout went smoothly, the campers ran their butts off and I saw more smiles than I have at Blackburn in many months. Maybe it was the field. Maybe they really did enjoy themselves. Maybe it was the feeling of accomplishment when you work with a team and achieve a goal.
Today we saw the fast people take second place to the back, the out of shape and the non-discript. Today, we made superstars out of regular people. The boost that these folks will have to their confidence level is unmeasurable. But tomorrow, you will see a different group of campers. Tomorrow you will see a little extra hop in their step. Tomorrow they will "get it" just a little bit more. Tomorrow they will take one step closer to being the athletes they always dreamed of, or to at least reaching their goals.
But today, let's celebrate their goals! Score one for the boot campers. Today, they had fun.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
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I went into today's workout thinking, "This is gonna be fun!". In the moments after it, however, my vocal chords were strained, and I felt like the "organized chaos" had leaned more towards chaos than organized. Not as much fun as I'd thought! A few hours removed from the workout, though, and certainly after reading this post, I'm feeling better about it. It IS about the campers, after all, and if they had fun and got a good workout, then that's what matters! One nice thing about leading today's workout, was that I had the perfect vantage point for seeing the campers and instructors who brought it today. That was awesome!
I'm so appreciative of all the instructors who played hard today, helped to keep things moving, and who said that they had fun! Thanks, everyone, particularly James, and of course Mari, who - let's face it - is a complete ROCK STAR! Van Halen, indeed!
Today was awesome! We had fun and we learned a lot about the campers and our group of instructors. I think the most important lessons we take away today are we can communicate our excitements, our challenges and lessons learned. By far, I think Soccer is the hardest workout to lead and have been fortunate to lead it several times now, so I have felt the pain. I applaud Emily for tackling the beast. We came up with many suggestions to improve the workout for next time and that Rocks! Yes, Emily, Mari rocks, but our development as a team and our willingness to listen and grow will make all the difference by the end of this season. In this case, I think WE all Rock!
For tomorrow, bring your springs. Let the jumping begin!
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