SportzSnooz

My girlies are now into volleyball season. Middle school athletics are Very Educational--which means we focus on personal improvement, skills development, teamwork--and not caring that we lose a lot of games. Which we do.

The various parents who attend these games have lots of theories why this is. One of them is that our kids are so busy doing so many different things that they don't have time to specialize. You know, when kids have to miss practices for music lessons, etc. I know I have a new appreciation for the concept of "the gentleman's C." I used to believe that was the grade given to somebody who failed a course, but whose parents (and grandparents, and great-grandparents) give a lot of money to the old Alma Mater. It's hard to fail a kid whose name is the same as the building you are teaching in--it's bad practice.

Now I see it as a sign of someone stretching themselves, of trying something they've never done before, of doing something because it makes them well-rounded, even if it lowers their GPA. And that's how I see my kids' participation in athletics.

Athletics at my kids' school is also an interesting culture clash. Their school is an independent, non-religious, college prep private school. It's a fairly small school for the metropolitan area, and so the teams don't compete with the public schools. In middle school, the kids participate in the Catholic Athletic Association, which means all their games are against Catholic school girls. And Catholic culture is just different from the godless, atheistic, secular humanist education as experienced by my girls.

The first game of the year was against a school called "Immaculate Conception." Which the kids couldn't even say without twisting their faces up in that "omg, that is just so gross, why do we have to learn about that" expression that most kids exhibit in the face of sex education. Pony was skeptical: "Why would you even name a school that?"

Many of the schools in the league are named for the saints: Saint Patrick, Saint Ursula, Saints Go Marching In. Last year our team was asked what school they were from. "St. Paul Academy." "Oh, is he your saint then?" Umm. . .no--it is the name of the city we are in.

Today they played in the gym at The Presentation Of The Holy Virgin Mary school. Yes, that is a mouthful. Like many Catholic schools, there are religious quotes posted around the school. Prominently displayed on the wall was this quote (as well as I can remember it):

Athletes will devote great effort in order to win a fading crown of leave. We strive for the eternal crown of glory. --I Cor. 9:25

This is not the kind of quote I would put on a gym wall, myself. It seems to me that it mocks the efforts athletes put into their competitions. Why, it asks, would you work so hard for something more temporary? Better to work for something that lasts eternally, right? So, says I to myself, if I were a student at this school, would this inspire me to participate in P.E.?

Absolutely not. It's rather a passive aggressive message to the P.E. department that kids shouldn't be wasting their time, and anyone who does compete fully is just a fool.

I asked another mom what she thought about this quote, and she put it all in perspective by cheering our girls on with "Go For the Fading Crown!"