I am by no means claiming to be some cocky jock, but I was never cut from a team while in school. Actually, that is a lie – I was cut from a volleyball team in middle school but the experience was so insignificant to me that I am only recalling it as I type. However, I can sympathize with those students who come hoping to make a team and eventually fail to see their name on that final list. That is why the hardest part of coaching a school team is making cuts, beyond a doubt.

As we spent some time in the morning going over the list, we had about seven boys that we knew had “made it”. There was another cohort that hopefully assumed their “career” as basketball phenoms would be on pause for their 8^th grade year. And then there were those fickle five or six boys that made (and will forever make) the prospect of coaching a team more difficult than delivering a lesson on quantum physics.

At the end of the day, we put up the list of boys who made the team. I watched as some who thought they might have the slightest chance at making the team, maybe even hoping for it throughout the entire day, walk up and look at the list. They would look a few times to make sure that they hadn’t somehow glanced over their own name by mistake, only to finally come to the realization that their hopes for making the team were dashed. No name – dream on hold.

It was hard for me to watch. I took more of an observable interest in the students who did not make it rather than share in the pleasure of those that did. Making cuts is like tearing a Band-Aid off after a deep cut. And like all other things, self-esteem and confidence come in many different ways. Driving factors are not all the same for each child. So a kid who got cut this year may give up basketball forever. But maybe one of them uses this sting as a driving force to improve. Some of the best men, women, and businesses are built through these types of experiences and are successful because of their failures. And on the basketball topic, the goat Michael Jordan himself, was cut from his high school team; look how he used that to fuel his motivation. He didn’t turn out so bad.

Hopefully the cut ones learn to live by the motto that “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. And as a coach and teacher, these are life experiences, motivations, and factors we must deliver. These are teaching moments not in the curriculum. Not everything that needs to be learned or experienced will happen in the classroom. Of course, there any different philosophies and opinions regarding how one ought to cultivate student esteem and desire through sports. But in this situation, the way I was taught is the way I am going to teach, regardless of the apparent generational differences that are ever so present in today’s world. Sports are not the same as academics. One is mandatory, one is voluntary. So the same rules need not apply. No one says you have to try out for the basketball team. If you do, you should be prepared to deal with the consequences. In academics, things are a little different. You have to take math and language class, whether you like it or not. Cuts do hurt, but each educator has their own philosophy on sports, participation, and success. And that is as important as winning and losing.

[share title=”Share this Post” facebook=”true” twitter=”true” google_plus=”true”]

The post Do Cuts Hurt? appeared first on Matthew R. Morris.

I initially decided that I wanted to teach because, as someone who was so indoctrinated by the cycle of sports, I simply could not come to terms with working every weekday of every week with essentially no end goal. I have tremendous respect for people who do jobs on a daily basis without the “light at the end of the tunnel” so to speak. But after coming to the realization that athletics was not going to pay the bills for me, I couldn’t help but think about how much school and sports are connected.

Now I don’t want to be misunderstood, I did not decide to get into teaching because I wanted summers off. But as someone who ate, breathed, and literally slept sports throughout the majority of my life, I could not realistically picture having a career that was not, in some way, rooted in the cyclical aspects that are common to all sports; especially the qualities of the “season” and the “off-season”. To me, each new school year seems like a new season. It is not exactly a football or basketball season, but I still feel like the months of September to June are “in-season” for teachers. Every new “academic season”, all that are involved in education grow; we go through high points and low points, we test, we communicate, we coach, we have hard days that are rough on our minds and bodies, and sometimes we have lighter days. During this “academic season”, everyone in the school building works toward a common goal. That is to complete the “season” to the best of our abilities and to one day be able to look back on that school year with pride. Our “championship game” is won on that last week of the year when students are promoted to their next grade.

So, you see how school is a lot like the sports world in my eyes. At school, no two days are the same. In football the saying goes, “on any given Sunday,” because no two games are the same. In football, you must work together as a team to complete a common goal and you must learn to work with people from diverse backgrounds with different strengths and weaknesses. In sports, you learn to figure out which tactics are successful and which ones are not through trial and error and experiences. This is what also happens inside the classroom, in the halls, in the science lab, in the gymnasium, on field trips, and anywhere else inside and outside of our schools. Teachers learn how to deliver their program, teach students, and manage behavior through experience and trial and error. Having a background in sports and playing the game of football my entire life up into adulthood, I came to the realization that becoming a teacher would be the most rewarding and natural profession that I could be a part of. It it what I refer to on most interview questions. It is a main reason why I decided to become a teacher.

Now that I have completed my fourth “academic season”, I enter the off-season (summer break) with some mental and emotional conditioning that I need to complete, not to come back to my classroom bigger, faster, and stronger for next season, but to come back wiser, sharper, and ultimately, better as teacher.

[share title=”Share this Post” facebook=”true” twitter=”true” google_plus=”true”]

The post On School and Sports appeared first on Matthew R. Morris.