If you’re like me, the thought of competing right now is a little bit stressful. Here’s what my week went like last week:
Monday – Notified an athlete with an ACL injury will be out the rest of the season. OK, we expected that. While it’s sad, it’s not a surprise. Those injuries need to heal, and I don’t want to rush it. I had a back up plan in place.
Tuesday – My stepdaughter comes down with something. Sore throat, low-grade fever. Her mom tests positive for COVID. We make a plan for her to not compete this weekend but putting a coach on our senior team and changing to the Open division. (I’m a small gym, I don’t have level 4 athletes in stock to fill in at a moment’s notice, so this was the best decision we could make.)
Wednesday – Senior team is ready to take on the challenge. An athlete shows up 5 minutes late to practice with tears in her eyes because she’s been sleeping all day and still just exhausted. On the 30 minute drive to practice, her throat starts hurting. She knows the inevitable. I send her home and we make a plan to rearrange the routine for this weekend’s competition.
By the end of Wednesday practice two more kids are telling me they’re exhausted and their throats are starting to hurt.
Thursday – We pull in a crossover to fill in for my stepdaughter who was already filling in for the athlete with the ACL injury on our junior team. Phew. It was easier than we expected, but that’s still a whole practice of not really progressing – just teaching another athlete the current routine.
Friday – Get a frantic text from a mom who just tested positive and is now getting her daughter tested. By this point, we’re basically just planning on taking the floor and doing tumbling, jumps and dance. We’ll take what we can get. Athlete tests negative.
Saturday – Somehow, by the grace of God all 3 routines hit with minor issues only. Mom texts a few hours after competition to let us know her daughter wasn’t feeling well and tested positive for the flu.
Guys…This is not the season to stress about gaps in your formations. It’s not the season to stress when only half your pyramid can go up. If you stress, your athletes will really stress. We’re teaching kids a valuable lesson right now. We’re teaching them to go with the flow and make the best of a crappy situation. We’re teaching them that no matter how hard you work – sometimes things are out of your control and don’t go as well as you’d like.
We’re teaching kids very hard adult-like lessons. Make sure to keep a smile on your face this week and a positive tone in your voice. As frustrated as you might feel, remember – the way you handle yourself this week will make all the difference in the effort your team puts in week after week.
Good luck this week. Stay positive!
