Its a Community

As coaches, I wonder how we deal with our days at work and then try to put on our positive cord for the girls when we get to practice. This was one of those really difficult weeks for me where I was showing up late to things, spilling food on myself at work, smashing my fingers in equipement...and just all around being busy. Nothing really bad, just one of those weeks and I still have to coach at the end of the day.

I guess its good that in Maryland traffic is bad because it gives me time in the car to sort of take a deep breath, listen to some music and clear my mind. And as I pull up to the school, at the very least is give these girls some sort of positive experience.

Its so much fun seeing them give me a hard time for me showing up late. They have all been late multiple times since they like to chat in the bathroom as they get changed. I have never been late and I was really late on Monday. They are quick to forgive after they scold me and give me their 'angry faces'. I love it.

I love that they also have come so far. Wednesday was proof of that. For our project we split them into groups. It was an all indoors day because of the rain. But that was ok because they are planning their community service project. I was amazed at how little direction they needed to come up with great ideas. I was even more amazed at how wonderfully they behaved. It only took 9 weeks of practices to finally see them be calm during an indoor activity. I mean calm in that they weren't running circles around me. They were amazing and respectful, and kind and hard working. I was so impressed. I feel like they are all growing up so fast. I realize these aren't my kids but they really have touched my heart.

And I definitely realized how much I am going to miss them next week during the Thanksgiving break. But worse-is that when we return I only have one more week with them. I think I am almost dreading the end of this season. I thought I would look forward to the break from coaching for a bit but I honestly think that even with all the rushing, craziness and giggles, I am really just going to miss seeing these kids twice a week.

I have to brag for a little bit though. My daughter has found her love is dancing and I kind of always wanted her to be a little runner with me. She is joining me for our end of season event with all the county's teams. I kind of figured she was doing it more for my sake than her love of running. But today at her annual turkey trot she was the first girl in her grade to come across the line. And while I may have missed it (all accounted for in my rough rough week) I was informed by her father that she beamed and really loved running. I realize it might be silly but I can't wait till she is old enough to come out and join my team and run with me. I wont take away from her dance as long as she wants it but I love sharing this with these kids and I definitely can't wait to share in this program with my own daughter!

We have a 5k this week O_o

It’s a 5K type of week!

So what was outstanding about Monday’s practice?  The girls of course!  Really, the message we got to go over was pretty easy and standard, don’t believe that everything you see in an ad is good for you.  Wham, bam-thank you ma’am, these girls are smart and don’t need a lot of direction about such a lesson. 

But there are moments in your life that will always stick with you.  Walking in and the girl that seemed so grumpy the week before is suddenly in an amazing mood.  I mean, the girls have hard days too, I know that but it definitely affects me more than I want to admit.  I mean, I want to think I make their days as good as they make mine, but I know its just not always possible. 

But walking in and having struggled through my own day just from being exhausted from being up all night with homework of my own, and this little girl runs up to me and gives me a hug and tells me she didn’t mean to be in such a bad mood literally lifted my mood right away.  I don’t know where I muster up any energy from when I go to these practices but they deserve my best and they most definitely get it.  Such a joyful moment having the girls give me hugs and just feeling like they are really happy to be there. 

So just because I am so proud of these girls and of this program, there is this little story I have to share.  We have a little guest, we will call her Violet.  She comes on occasion to practice with her mom when I need an extra set of hands.  My parents are amazing and they are really great to work with and really great at communicating with me.  Anyways, Violet had something to tell me.  She got to attend our lessons on Bullying and on how to respond to people who are hurting you.  On Halloween she was being teased/bullied by another girl who was making fun of her choice in costume.  Violet took a moment to go up to the girl and tell her the following,

“ I feel really bad and sad when you are being mean to me.  It hurts my feelings, Can you stop being mean to me and making me sad please?”

The other little girl stopped teasing her.  Violet is only 6! I don’t know what affected me more-that she is only 6 and she felt like she was being bullied or that she is only 6 and she stood up for herself using lessons she learned hanging out with us at Girls on the Run. 

Either way, sorry that I am such a sap, I most definitely had to hold back a lot of tears of happiness this past Monday.  Hugs and happy stories-I guess I never realized how much of an affect 2 ½ hours a week can have on these girls lives!

OK-so officially I think some of the parents and my assistant coach think I am completely nuts.  And well, I don’t have much ground to stand on to argue this opinion (fact or opinion is all a matter of perspective in this situation).  But Wednesday was our practice 5k.  And you know what, I wanted to make sure that the girls had as great an experience as possible.  So it started with Monday nights email to my parents-more of a begging of-please make sure your girls come dressed appropriately…even with a list of items that I think would work best.  This is just where it starts. 

Then Tuesday I realized I have pink card stock paper at home and I want to try and print their certificates of completion on them. The nerd that I am proud to be comes out and my director kindly emails me our training package with all the forms in PDF.  I then through a little effort recreate the pdf into a word file and insert text boxes so that I can type each girls name into the certificate and print it Tuesday night on pink card stock. 

And then I go completely madd.  I was up till 130 am printing certificates for the girls, making cupcakes, slicing oranges, making signs for the course, slicing banana’s, packing up everything I needed, and prepping a play list on my ipod (which was probably my hardest task because I unfortunately don’t own a lot of music I feel has a message that is positive for the girls and upbeat . Sorry Brittany, Ke$ha, and the majority of pop singers, your music talking about how you drink, party, need or are dumping a current guy, sex, and whatever…is not appropriate for the message we are trying to give these girls).

So you know that term, “It takes a Village”. I had the help of my roommate unloading everything and getting everything set up and then helping with my kids while I worked with the girls. My older daughter has wanted to come to a practice and she was overwhelmed with happiness to get to come.  There were parents that came and were all around the little track I set up for the girls cheering them on with signs and high fives.  There was my assistant coach who has this insane amount of energy!  And there was music and dancing.  YEP DANCING-I don’t know what the girls enjoyed more, watching me and the coach dance for them or dancing themselves once they stopped being embarrassed about it.  We definitely had a blast and I couldn’t be prouder of the girls than if they were my own.

I was definitely exhausted last night after everything so for the first time in weeks at 930 after I emailed my parents their weekly wrap up-I looked at my bed and decided, staying up till midnight doing homework just wasn’t an option.  My bed was calling me.  But if you asked me if I would do it all over again knowing how tired I would be?  I would tell you, I already have ideas of other things to add to the next time I get to have a practice 5k with my next team. 

Bullying-It can be stopped

“We’ve got to dispel this myth that bullying is just a normal rite of passage.”

President of the United States

A topic that is in the news and touches me dearly-Bullying.  That was Monday’s lesson.  And here is how I started my lesson

“Have any of you ever felt bullied by someone else, raise your hands”

Every little girl raised her hand.  Remember that these are only 3^rd -5^th graders and they already are so aware of bullies.  So it came as no surprise that these bright intelligent girls had plenty of input about bullying.  Its different today though, at least before we used to be able to go home and feel safe there but now Bullies enter our rooms through our children’s cell phones and social networking accounts.  The kids are surrounded and I am getting one hour to teach them how to deal with bullies and still get some exercise in their routine. 

And to be honest, I think they absorbed it better than I could imagine.  They are so insightful as kids.  I think parents understand this best but I don’t remember being that smart as a kid.  I mean, I know I was a smart kid but I don’t remember being so aware of such things. 

These kids give me so much hope though that there is so much good in humanity.  So, as I came into work the next day and that woman who sits a few cubes away bullies me again for whatever reason she felt she needed to pick on me, I just smile.  Because I know better, being a bully isn’t a sign of strength, standing up to a bully is what takes real courage and strength and those little girls helped teach me that when I heard how they feel about bullies. 

Wednesday, the first one in weeks where it was absolutely beautiful outside!  I mean…just absolutely perfect and we have a fun day planned of talking about friends.  And I have two sullen girls on my team.  They are just at that age where sullen is something they are beginning to master.  And I was bummed, honestly bummed that I couldn’t do anything to cheer them up and get them excited about what we had planned.  But we moved forward because that is the motto of our little team and I worked as best as I could around them hoping that maybe a little of the happiness of the other girls would rub off. But you know what, bad moods can be contagious so you have to remember to work extra hard even when you are struggling with a girl to be in an extra good mood.  I definitely have my assistant coach who is great at bring that happy positive energy to practice and a couple of the girls recognized what was happening and they worked extra hard to be cheery. 

And the girls learned about choosing their friends.  And while the message sort of portrayed itself that a girl shouldn’t ever choose to be friends with someone who is negative my team is just too smart.  And they said-but sometimes people have bad days and maybe if you are a good friend to them, they can learn from you to be a better friend to others. 

And I think they did a fantastic job of trying to bring their team mates back into the fold and cheer them up.  And let me tell you that those girls can run when being chased.  The assistant coach and I played freeze tag with them and they sure did out run us a good amount.