Tryouts 05 October 2011

Thanks to the enthusiastic Principal Jaime Crowley, RhodySquash tryouts at Thompson Middle School were wildly successful; 54 5th and 6th graders and a reporter showed. Admittedly, I was extremely nervous. "Would these kids like me?" "Would anybody actually come to the tryouts?" To say we were unprepared for the turnout is an understatement. Two gym teachers, however, were extremely helpful while Molly (a volunteer) and I frantically tried to get contact info. 50+ kids, 30 minutes ... pretty efficient if I do say so myself.

Witness ... performance anxiety

Looking forward, I've been contacting every kid who signed up, trying to schedule a more formal tryout at the RhodySquash clubhouse. Now we're looking for serious commitment and innate squash facility (maybe this is a good time to formally give a shout out to the late Jim Phelan, my squash coach; without him, none of this would be possible). Again, the response has been overwhelming. Over 30 students scheduled a second tryout. In some sick/twisted way, I'm like a college admissions officer. With the advice of others, we have to choose 8 kids out of 40. More than anything, I feel bad about being not being able to offer each and every one of them the opportunity. That's the nature of life though; unlimited needs with limited resources. Now that I mention it, someone should relay that message to Democrats...

Let it also be known that this has been the first week I've regretted taking Latin; fluency in Spanish would have been extremely helpful. Live and learn, I guess.

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