All my life (and there’s a fair amount of water passed under my bridge nowadays), all my life, I’ve loved and lived sport. I’ve played competitively in basketball, AFL, indoor cricket, indoor netball and, of course – where my best achievements were, cricket. I’ve played football, tennis, golf and squash just for the fun of it. I love to water ski and snow ski, swim, snorkel and fish for relaxation and on TV, I will watch any and every sport. Drives my wife nuts!
Not so strange that I should now be teaching in a sports college, is it?
As a teacher I’ve always valued the quest to achieve the goals that you set for yourself, not those that your parents or your teachers or your friends set for you, but the ones that you set for yourself. Every day I watch students who I can see have some kind of goal in mind, but have little knowledge of how they will achieve it and, in some cases, little real drive to do the hard work required to achieve it. This saddens me. I’ve always believed that if whatever you wish for comes too easily, then you will not value it as much as when you’ve had to work really hard for it. Regardless of whether your aspirations are on the sports field or in the classroom; success in both arenas depends on what we are prepared to put into it.
At the moment we teachers are busy writing our end of year reports, it is a time of reflection as we carefully consider the progress of each student over the duration of the year. Working in the classroom at IFS provides a picture of the focus and level of enthusiasm of the students. It is heart warming knowing that many students are prepared to put in the effort to achieve their goals, unfortunately it can not be said of them all. But it’s never too late to start, every day is a new beginning.
Let me leave you with a quote from the famous black Afro-American athlete Jesse Owens, who competed in the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin, Germany just before the outbreak of the second World War.
“In the end, it’s the extra effort that separates a winner from second place. But winning takes a lot more than that. It starts with complete command of the fundamentals. Then it takes desire, determination, discipline and self-sacrifice. And, finally, it takes a great deal of love, fairness and respect for your fellow man. Put all these together, and even if you don’t win, how can you lose?”
Jesse Owens won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympic Games for his performances in the 100m and 200m dash, long jump and for his contribution to the 4x100m relay team.
Greetings from Rodney
Great reflection Mr Sporty 🙂 Such an important message for these kids, thank you