During this past school year (2009-2010) I became a member of the African American History Team. There was a guy in my physics class reading a book called Before The Mayflower. I knew I had read it before but I asked him why he was reading it. He said he was doing the African American History Challenge (AAHC). I knew who sponsored it and I thought it would be a good idea if I joined because there weren't many other school activities that interested me.
I didn't have to try out to be on the team or apply. I received my copy of Before The Mayflower and we immediately began to study the book, which had more than 600 pages. I was the only junior on the team. I was somewhat intimidated by the seniors. They were smart, at the top of their class and they let it be known that I wouldn't have much of a chance on their team. I can remember one senior saying, "Only seniors will compete, juniors are just doing it for the experience." I couldn't care one way or another, I was just happy to be apart of a team. I didn't mind taking an hour or three to study with them on Wednesdays and Fridays. I really had nothing else to do.
The local competition neared as the months went by. We had started studying together in November. By March I was the only girl on the team. One senior had stopped coming, so she was off the team and that left me with two boys. We still aren't friends, but all the time I spent with them is as close to a friendship as I have gotten so far in high school. I was nervous at the local competition. Our coach made it clear that I was the captain. That suprised me because the seniors had all the status. It was held in our school auditorium and the crowd filled up a significant portion of the seating area. The lights were beaming down on the stage where we sat. They made me hot. My heart beat sped up as the competition started. I was convinced that we wouldn't win because there was a girl on Central's team who could answer questions before they were completely read... at least that's what I heard.
As the questions started to come we struggled some but we made it out of the first round ahead of the other teams. The nervousness had went away. By the middle of the second round, it was evident who the champs were...US! We beat the losing team by 24 points. I don't mean to brag, but I scored most of those points for my team. What made me even happier was that we would go on to national competition.
We continued to study as much as we could after the local competition but it was difficult with 2/3 of the team preparing for the end of their high school lives. They were occupied with prom, pictures, scholarships and parties. I was occupied too, I had studying for AP exams, finals and making sure my grades were where I wanted them to be.
The nervousness I felt with the first competition revisited me as June 16, 2010 approached. I was very busy: ACT, Summer Scholars and trying to study for the competition. I was overwhelmed. Being nervous would not stop the inevitable from occurring. On the morning of June 16th we flew to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The national competition would be held there, in a beautiful, oceanside hotel. Our first match up was 11:30 a.m. the following day. We played against Detroit and won. I surprised myself with how aggressively I competed. Our next match, against Charlotte, North Carolina, took place that same day. We lost by about ten points but we still had a chance to compete since we had the highest score of the losing teams.
I apologized to my team for our lost in the second round. I felt bad because I believed I was the reason for our lost.The coach had made me the center piece and my team depended on me. I let them down. I didn't study enough....I should've answered quicker, that little voice in my head told me. In our last match, the one that would decide our fate in the competition, we quickly outscored the other team. In the end, we ended up losing again, which meant we didn't make it all the way. I hurt inside, my ego hurt and everything else about me hurt as well. Losing is not fun. I moped around for awhile but eventually I got over it and went to watch the championship round. Both the teams we lost to competed against each other, as I watched them compete, I knew they deserved to be up there. My Spanish teacher of two years always started the first day of school with a saying: "Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance." I realized that my teammates and I weren't prepared enough. We had made it as far as we were meant to be...and I couldn't be mad at that.
0 comments:
Post a Comment