Friday, March 17, 2006

TGIF & MVP

Does anyone remember the Friday night line of shows about 10-12 years ago that was TGIF.. Family Matters with Urkle?? Oh gosh.. that was a memory that I could do without. =/

Okay, so NOW gymnastics feels over. The season officially ended last Friday but the awards banquet was last night. This meant working on the slideshow for 3 hours Monday night, tearing down equipment on Tuesday night, working another couple of hours on the slideshow on Wednesday night and finally having the awards program last night! It was full of laughs, as always. We do a gag gift for each girl and man, this year was exceptionally good. To name a few.. Jeni got a "Where's my Wenis" chart. She swears that us girls have a wenis. We got her a chart so she can show us where exaclty this wenis is. Kristen got a mirror ornament that reminds here not to turn left on red. She was so embarrassed that her parents found out... and she thought that they didn't know that she is a horrible driver? One girl got a "Tampon Insertion for Dummies" book. Yep, we've got a tampon virgin. Hopefully she'll read up and come back to us next year without her undies hanging out of her leo.. for obvious reasons. We gave out the annual awards: Drive, Desire, & Determination, Most Improved, Coaches award... MVP.

Which brings me to a question that I'd love to hear your opinions on. My old high school (where I coach) may do away with giving out MVP awards next year. What? Why? They don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Some coaches claim that it's "hard to give out" and "not very team oriented." This goes along with my good friend Jes's blog entry a few weeks about a Seattle school banning TAG from their playground. Okay, are they serious? Read her entry HERE. (By the way, VERY good post yesterday, my friend. Good reminder to us all to treat people in the way that you would like to be treated. Not rocket science, here.)

Back to my point, why would we do away with MVP? So all the kids are treated equally? So that no one stands above another kid? Because it's "not very team oriented"? If everyone strived to be the MVP every game, wouldn't that result in some pretty awesome TEAMS? If we do away with MVP, then we shouldn't give out any other award. Not even the well deserved Scholar Athlete awards we give. That may make the kids feel dumb cuz they didn't get one. Seriously, work HARDER in class so that you can get the blasted Scholar Athlete award! You know, I am not a genius. School was so hard for me. I probably had and still have a learning disability. But guess what? I worked my BUTT off to get good grades and one of the reasons was to get these awards. To wear that ugly cord on graduation day. Same thing with sports, I worked my HINEY off so that I could be proud of the way I competed, beat other gymnasts, and so that I could be a contender for MVP. Why? Cuz I wanted to reach my potential. I wanted to be a peace with myself knowing that I did the best I could do if I lost or got second place. If we do away with an award like MVP, what are we teaching kids? It's okay to be mediocre. It's okay to be the norm and not be exceptional. We need to be teaching kids to work harder, strive to be the best, and get a little competitive!! It's gunna prepare these kids for the WORLD cuz the world is pretty competitive. Guess how you get a job? You beat someone else that is also qualified for the job. When we determine MVP, we don't just look at who scored the most points for us. We look at the girl that works hard in practice, cheers on their teammates, works hard in school and is an all-around pleasant person. Have a bad attitude, be selfish and still be number one? There's a good chance you'll probably not go home with the MVP trophy. STRIVE to be the best in all you do... still might not mean that you get MVP, but at least you know your best was accomplished.

Now that I am picking my undies out of the wad they are in.... hehehehe!! Okay, so I had no clue that I had such thoughts about this until I started writing! You've just met riled up Darcy!!! Some of you haven't met her yet, Darcy's usually pretty easy going, until a little sompin'-sompin' strikes her nerves. =)

... and thanks for all the super sweet comments about my last post. You guys are the best. Some days you feel completely blessed and just gotta tell people how God's poured out His love on you. =) I seriously feel like THE most blessed person on the earth! Love you o-blog friends of mine, hope you know that. =)

10 comments:

Jill H said...

yes, yes, yes, you hit the nail on the head here, Darcy!!

i hope those schools don't do away w/MVP or tag, i wasn't even aware of this but when my kiddos are school-age i'll be getting just as riled up as you =)

Elizabeth said...

kinda like how in t ball, every kid gets a trophy.. even if they lose.
It is good when they are little. but as we grow up we need to develop tough skin.
that is how the world is.
we all strive to be our best with the abilities we were given. if one does not get MVP of this thing, does not mean they are not an MVP in some other area.
people get to "worried" about other's words. We don't all have to agree with everything.and we are thankfully given the right to think what we want.
i think supporting and cheering others is a noble thing. it develops character.. and a backbone.(for when you don't get the cheering).
i agree having a MVP fosters more team awareness then individuality.

you should try wearing a thong next time!!!

Wendy said...

Darcy- you are so right on this. I won't get started, but I feel strongly on this and the way schools are taking less responsibility off of students be it for good things they do or bad.

Kat said...

love your awards! totally cracking up about wenis. you'll have to let me know when you find out about it.....

"It's gunna prepare these kids for the WORLD cuz the world is pretty competitive" totally agree!!!

Anonymous said...

To all you commenters *I just wanted to thank you for leaving suck sweet comments on Darcy's blog when i was gymnasts of the week you girls really encouraged me a lot by leaving such sweet things and i just wanted to say thanks!

Darcy I totally agree with you on the whole MVP thing... just to let you know from my point of view as a "kid" my feelings aren't hurt hah and that the chart you gave me really helped me because I did end up finding my wenis!!!

Jeni

sara said...

Don't even get me started! I am a teacher--I see it every single day! I agree, it's crazy. In the real world, there is always going to be some award or reward worth striving for --and often, someone else will get it and you'll just have to try again! Now days, in elementary schools, I find that there aren't many awrads UNLESS everyone can get it. What about when these kids go out and get a job and the boss says, "I have one promotion to give." That means you better give it your all so that you MIGHT be the one he picks! You better do something to make yourself stand out!

I agree with you Darcy--it fires me up to--and I truly feel like it sets them up for a let down when they get older! Life is tough sometimes--you don't get where you want to be by being mediocre--you get there by giving 110%...and even with that, it may take a bit!

I loved your "blessed" post. Always love reading about others blessings' --makes you take a good, hard look at your own.
Hey---wait---how can you have the sweetest, most loving, most wonderful, greatest husband????? I thought I married him??? ;)

Sara

sara said...

I meant TOO...sorry about that!

Mara said...

darcy darcy darcy...
mvp should stay around.
yeep.
totally agree.
and i bet your slideshow was awesome.
like you, chickee.

island jen said...

wow...so passionate!! lol!! you should copy your blog post and put it in a letter to your school!!

Anonymous said...

BOY MEETS WORLD

nuff said.

ALso, I completely agree with you. I think if rewarding mediocrity (I'm not talking those who aren't that good but try their darndest anyways, they should be rewarded for their sportmanship, I'm talking the kids who only do things halfway) it will be the cause of future generations apathy.

We were called to live life abundabtly, to the FULLEST, not to live it lackadaisically.