It's All About Spirit

This past week was Spirit Week at Montpelier High School.  There were the typical activities ranging from specific days to dress colorfully to a bonfire and a dance at the end of the week.

One new event was a Dodgeball Tournament, in which teams were organized by Teacher Advisories.  This year at MHS, there has been a renewed push to develop Teacher Advisories as a more thoughtful way to build relationships with students.  I see TAs as a way for teachers to connect more substantially with students and for students to know, really know, that an adult in that building is there for them on a very practical, meaningful level.

I know the notion of Dodgeball evokes all kinds of responses.  For some, that word conjures up memories of the 2005 movie:

I assure you, we did not experience any moments that were reminiscent of that movie!

For others, the word dodgeball brings them back to their own experienced in Physical Education.  I  remember playing with balls like this:

And to be honest, those balls hurt when you get hit with them at a reasonable speed!  However, we don't use those balls anymore.  We use these:

These Gator Skin balls hurt much less - and I can speak from experience from playing at Main Street Middle School the last two years to my particicpation at MHS this week:

Plus there is a rule that if you hit someone in the head, you (the thrower) are out; the person hit in the head, stays in the game.  More on that rule later...

It was shortly after this photo was taken (thank you Myles Chater) that a very poignant moment took place that is the inspiration for this week's post.

I was watching another game - as the team I played on had been eliminated - on the other side of the gymnasium.  Two TA groups were matched pretty evenly and the game was proceeding along as you would expect a typical dodgeball game.  As the game was winding down, there were only a handful of students left on either side.  Ultimately the game came down to two young people - one young woman and one young man.

To be fair, I observed the young woman staying relatively far away from the action during most of the game but when she was the only one left, she stepped up and was playing hard trying to get the young man on the other side of the gym out.  The young man was playing thoughtfully as well trying to get his competitior out as well.

As there were no other games going on, the entire gym was watching this one game.  It seemed as though it was a foregone conclusion who was going to win.  At one point, the young woman was out of balls on her side of the line.  While she was looking around for another ball, the young man stepped up and threw a ball at her.  She looked up, saw the ball that was heading her way, and turned away.

The ball hit her, dropped down to the floor, and all the remaining students ran onto the court cheering and yelling...

They all ran to mob the young woman - as the ball had hit her in the head, meaning the young man was out, and the young woman had won the game for her team!  She received hugs, high fives, and lots of love from MHS students and adults alike!  It was a very nice moment during Spirit Week that captured what this week was really all about.

It was the unexpected nature of the win - the underdog moment.  We all root for the underdogs, those that are not expected to win.  It's human nature of sports.  And in this case, were it not for Spirit Week, we would not have had this moment to celebrate.  Bravo and thank you to MHS for a great week!