Life is full of lessons; I guess the key is to learn from them the first time around. Of course, some of us take a little longer but we still learn along the way. Hopefully, at the end of the day we have moved the ball forward and prepare for the next day a little smarter for it.
That said, I want to look back a week and learn a lesson that we should all never forget.
This is the story of a group of Marina kids that just needed a chance. They needed someone to believe in them and to give them a path and a vehicle that would allow them to shine. I am sure we all remember our early teen years as a time when rebellion and direction did not go hand in hand. Add an element of authority and off the reservation we went.
So back up a couple of years ago when an unlikely authority figure stepped up and took a few ragtag skateboarders aside and planted an idea. It took a while but slowly this group of kids began to see something happening and it was changing them all.
Soon this group of kids began to become a Team and a good one at that. They began to believe in themselves and in each other, and they began to win. First it was a competition here and there, and then it was almost all they entered. When the first year was done they found themselves State Champions.
Now this is not to say that challenges did not remain, there were many. There was the normal school, family and friends to deal with but there was also that authority figure that drove them. He would not allow them to give up and he helped them deal with their own personal challenges.
So almost two years later they found themselves on the brink of something no one could ever have envisioned. They found themselves as a Team entering QUALCOMM Stadium in San Diego, before some 30,000+ people at the opening ceremonies of the 2011 State Games of America National Junior Olympic Championships. In a matter of hours they would be competing for a National title.
When it was all said and done, this group of Marina kids outdid them all, all 20 teams. They skated like they had never skated before and they found themselves the 2011 State Games of America National Junior Olympic Skateboarding Champions!
So what of the life lesson? What do you think of when you see a bunch of skateboarding kids? What about a group of kids in general? Do you give them a chance in your mind? Would you find a way to help mentor them? Perhaps the lesson is for all of us to learn.
So here's to our 2011 State Games of America National Junior Olympic Skateboarding Champions - the City of Marina/On the Beach/Drawn Skate Team, and here's to Terry Siegrist, our Recreation and Cultural Services Director who saw what was possible and guided a group of kids to accomplish more than they could have ever dreamed.
More later
A great blog! These kids needed the kind of mentoring Terry brings to the table to understand that yes I can usually means yes we can. It is usually not possible to have these kind of achievements unless we join with others. The quarterback is nothing without the rest of the team. Even in sports not considered to be team sports like tennis, it is the team of coaches, parents and supporters that make the success of the individual possible. Each of us has the potential to do great things but we cannot do it alone. We need the support of the rest of our team to make it happen.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to the members of the City of Marina/OTB/Drawn Skate Team and all those that came together to make it possible for these kids to come home champions.