Tonight was the spring sports dessert at Hosanna . . . Phillip's first athletic awards program. Coach Zach introduced Phillip first amongst the runners and spoke very highly of him. In fact, he gave Phillip the Most Improved award. He commented that when Phillip first arrived at practice, he even had to be taught how to run! No, this doesn't mean that Phillip had to be taught how to run fast . . . he had to literally learn how to move his arms and legs in a running motion. His progress this spring was phenomenal. He couldn't make it around even one lap around the track at first but with practice he was able to run almost a mile in under six minutes.
Jordan was next and Coach was extremely complimentary toward him, calling him the hardest worker on the team and saying he has a great attitude. He told the story of getting a call from him because Jordan was at the Big 5 sporting goods store and was going to be late for practice . . . and so Jordan ran all the way to OIT for practice, more than six miles. Jordan did get his varsity letter but, maybe more importantly, he received the Coach's Award. Zach doesn't give an MVP award but he sees this as its substitute. It recognizes the qualities of a strong work ethic, positive attitude, coachability, Christ-like attitude and being a good teammate.Zach also talked about how much he would miss the guys next year and you could hear murmurs of agreement around the room. Needless to say, I couldn't be prouder of them.
1 comment:
Geez, you're making me all misty-eyed! Great job for both boys. Sadly, at our school only the best get any attention or recognition. But I was very proud of my son. He also didn't know how to run his first year in track and every meet has improved his time. This year he decided to learn to vault. He may not be Olympic material, but I was proud of him for trying and sticking with it, and improving his height each time--with virtually no interest or help shown from the "coach". In quotes because I don't consider him to be much of a coach...We didn't even bother going to the athletic banquet, which consists of lining the kids up, handing them their certificate, praising the top 2, and eating. We'll probably go next year since he'll be a senior. Be proud of your kids, and be proud of a school that cares about them.
Post a Comment