SOLSC #7 - First Practice

To read my student's posts on the
Classroom SOL challenge click here

Introduction: Hello and welcome to my blog! This is the third year I have participated in the SOLSC and also the third year for my students as well! I teach students, ages 11-14, in a multi-age classroom at The Logan School for Creative Learning in Denver, CO. This year, I am hosting students from all three middle school classes and they are participating on a volunteer basis (with a few prizes thrown in for inspiration). I'm looking forward to being part of this amazing community again!

First Practice

Twenty-one girls and boys, many of them new to Ultimate, shiver in the blustery wind. The have been tossing discs back-and-forth, for several minutes now and white plastic missiles are being flung every which way by the gusts. Another one is coming my way as the yell, "Fore!" rings out, a second too late. It hits harmlessly at my feet and I toss it carefully back.

I am impressed by their bravery to come out and play a game they don't really know. To try and throw and catch Frisbees with their peers and classmates without judging themselves too harshly, is a big risk. I continue to give praise, a tip here and there, and duck the wayward throws.

And then it happens. Not all at once, or in a continual basis, but I see each player have a moment.

A disc bangs off of cold hands, flips in the air and is snatched by those same cold hands.

That throw that flies perfectly; mostly level and flipping to flat, right to her partner.

A first real catch and someone smiling to show they saw it!

I think they all felt that one moment of perfection, or close to it, that will keep them coming back, despite the cold, the newness and the wind. I like this team!