She worked hard and practiced hard, but Jacob and I knew this would be a different level of competition that Brenna was not accustomed to. My little competitor likes to win! We coached her for weeks leading into the meet, that just being able to go was a reward, and as long as she tried her best, that's all that mattered. She understood this clearly. But what her head knows and what her heart feels can be two very different things. I was worried that she'd get discouraged if she didn't earn a ribbon. Only 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places are recognized.
She was tested immediately on her first event, the 100 meter. She gave a valiant effort and came in a close 4th. She handled it well! She walked off the track sucking wind and told me, "Those girls are fast!" We moved on to 200 meters, where she again came in 4th. Silently, I was thankful that she was at least competitive and not the last kid to cross the finish line. I was holding out hope that she could come away with at least one placement ribbon.
We moved on the standing long jump. This is a strong event for Brenna and I hoped this would be our time. Unfortunately, she get off to rough start. Her first jump was great..........except, she was pushing so hard for distance that she fell back instead of forward. She got a bit upset, but she shook it off and prepared for her second jump. Her second jump was fantastic! So, going into her third jump she felt pretty confident. Again, her third and finally jump was great, except she fell back again trying to stretch out the jump. She came back to me almost in tears, but we talked it out that she had one good jump and sometimes that all you need. Turns out, we were right. She managed a 2nd place ribbon on her one good jump!
Next, it was on to the running long jump. She jumped well, and walked away with another 4th place. All this took up the entire morning and we finally got a break in our events around noon. We grabbed some lunch and watched some of the older kids compete while we waited for our final event.
Brenna ran the first leg of our girls relay team. Our biggest concern was that someone would drop the baton. Despite practicing for weeks, we always seemed to have issues with the hand-off. Either the girls had to really slow down for the hand off, or they dropped the baton. Brenna devised a plan that she would run as fast as possible to get a head start and then slap the baton into Lucy's hand! She followed through and with the help of the Lucy, Miriam, and Emma our girls came in 3rd (very nearly 2nd)! I was glad that she got to celebrate that victory as a team!
It was a long day, but so much fun! I was proud of all the hard work that our athletes put in. Thanks to their efforts, Sarnia Christian School placed 3rd overall and came home with a new Track and Field banner to add to the gym!
First thing that morning. They said "We got this!"
Running long jump
The face of determination on her 1st leg of the relay race.
One proud group of girls!
Jacob bought all the girls Freezies in celebration of their win!
Cheering on Sarnia Christian from the stands!
No comments:
Post a Comment