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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Barb Rankin, I was generally picked last in PE for sport teams, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a lesson about how you can make contributions in areas where your skill sets may not be the strongest.
Fun Fact:
How many of you played Tee Ball as a kid?
Tee Ball was created in the 1950’s and there are several stories on the internet on how it actually began. Many versions credit Jerry Sacharski for founding this new game in Albion, Michigan. He was a high school teacher who didn’t want to see children turned away from summer baseball teams. By making it easier to hit the ball, and removing the pressure of pitching, this new approach allowed children with varying skill sets to play the game. He made the first batting tee out of metal piping, pieces of rubber and part of a garden hose. Other people who claimed to have invented the game include a Florida minister, who actually trademarked the name “tee-ball” and two men in Los Angeles.
Tee Ball combines aspects of baseball and softball and gives young children an introduction to team sports while teaching them ball game skills such as throwing, catching, batting and running the bases.
The ball is placed on top of a stand at home plate. The child uses a bat to hit the ball, then runs toward first base. As you would expect, the infield players see most of the action in this game. All children get a chance to hit the ball. Very inclusive.
Today, the game is governed by the T-Ball USA Association, located in West Palm Beach, Florida. This group promotes the game through local parks and recreation departments, and organizes special events.
This is a great way for kids to learn how to play as part of a team and practice their hand and eye coordination. They also can get outside, get some exercise, make new friends and have some fun.
What I Learned Yesterday:
We were all standing outside on the school playground, in a circle. The two team captains had been named by the teacher, and they were picking their teams – one person at a time. One by one, the kids lined up behind their captain.
There were 3 of us left. Then 2. And then I was standing alone with the remaining captain looking unhappy to have me join his team. Ouch.
I was in the 6th grade when I realized that I wasn’t very good at sports. But worse than that, I only realized that I wasn’t good because I was consistently picked last by the team captains. Being picked last for a Tee Ball or kickball team really sends a message.
I knew it wasn’t because they didn’t like me. They just thought I was lousy at sports.
When I look back at that time, I find it interesting that I didn’t give up or let it get me down. Perhaps I was naïve. But I thought I must have some skills.
The President’s Council on Youth Fitness was founded in 1956 to encourage American children to be healthy and active. Every year we were given tests to measure our physical fitness. Those tests included a 50 yard dash, a 600 yard dash, the standing broad jump, a softball throw, sit ups, a shuttle run, and pull ups for boys and the flexed arm hang for girls. My worst performance was always in the softball throw. I threw like a girl. Oh wait – I am a girl. Maybe more like a girl with a very bad throwing arm. But I did well in all the other categories, so I thought I could participate in some sporting event.
I transferred to a small, private school for my high school years and thought the odds were finally in my favor. There were fewer people, so how could they turn me down? I tried to play basketball, but I wasn’t fast, couldn’t dribble the ball, and ultimately I broke my finger, so that was the end of basketball.
In the spring, I tried softball. Since I had the worst throwing arm on the team, I ended up in – right field. It didn’t take the opposing teams long to learn that I was the weak link in the chain, and guess where the balls started flying. After a few lopsided losses, the coach knew she had to do something, and I knew it too. I helped her by accidently breaking another finger while going after what should have been an easy fly ball. I knew I was out of the game, and I thought our coach would have to take me off the team. This time, I thought I was finished with sports.
Each of us wants to make a contribution when we join an organization or team. Sometimes it isn’t in the way we originally imagined.
Have you ever had a passion for something but didn’t have the skill sets to make it a reality?
Kids are often told that they can do and be whatever they want and that nothing can or should hold them back. It’s important to encourage people to pursue their dreams, but there are times when we also need to be realistic and adjust our expectations, looking for other ways in which we can be successful with whatever is our passion.
I once thought I wanted to be a nurse, but the dissection portion of our 8th grade biology class that had me running from the room gagging at the sight and smell of blood changed my mind on that idea – very quickly.
I enjoy singing, but I don’t have the tonal voice quality to be a soloist and no amount of voice training is going to change that.
No amount of strength training was going to change my throwing arm. I needed to find another way to be involved with sports, a way in which I could be productive and contribute to the success of the team. But I didn’t know what that was, and I was ready to give up.
My high school softball coach was a wonderful woman with a positive attitude, and she wanted everyone to feel as if they were a part of the team. She didn’t want to turn people away and make them feel dejected. She knew I was good at math and that I paid attention to what was going on around me, so she told me she had a special assignment for me. She said she really needed someone to help keep score, watch what the opposing team was doing, and to help rally the troops when things got tough. I helped with the equipment and any odd jobs that she needed done. At the end of the season, she gave me the Coach’s Award for having a positive outlook and helping her with the team.
Becoming the scorekeeper opened up new opportunities. I became the statistician for the men’s high school varsity basketball team, and periodically assisted the junior varsity team as well. I traveled with the team to all the away games. When I left high school, the coaches gave me a Varsity letter for my assistance during those years. I was so excited! I really felt like I was part of the team.
That experience gave me the confidence to walk into the gymnasium of my new college and ask to speak to the basketball coach. I told him that I had several years experience as a statistician and asked if could he use my help. That began 4 years of traveling with the team as their statistician and calling in the scores after the game to the local newspaper and to the wire services. The next year, the soccer coach asked if I could become their scorekeeper, and now I was busy during the fall and the winter. The year after that, the baseball coach asked if I would become one of their Bat Girls, and I spent the next 2 years doing that in addition to my other team responsibilities. Before I graduated, the coaches gave me my college’s Varsity letter, in recognition of the support I had given them during my time there.
I was delighted. I had remained involved in sports, I had made a contribution, and it was great to feel appreciated.
Here’s what I learned.
Despite our best efforts there may be times that our abilities and skills are not a match with our passion. What we must do is learn to adapt and seek new ways that will enable us to combine the two in a different manner from what we originally imagined. By doing this, you are still making a contribution in the area of your passion – just in a different way from what you originally imagined.
You need to understand all your skills and abilities. List them. All of them. See if there are any that will align with your passion – such as marrying mathematical skill sets and observational skill sets to become a statistician.
Adapt. You hate the sight of blood, and know you’re never destined to be a nurse, but that doesn’t stop you from caring for people. Look for opportunities to volunteer at a senior center or for a children’s program. You can still help people but in a different way.
All of us have the ability to make a contribution in an area in which we are passionate. If it becomes our life’s work, it’s all the more rewarding. But if not, we will know that we can get involved, by being flexible, by adapting, by using our skills and abilities.
Not in the way we intended. But still in a way where we are making a contribution.
I’m Barb Rankin and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
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