VALUABLE LESSONS LEARNED

Today my beautiful boy learned an important lesson and I did too.

He has been learning ice skating since July last year and finished the year at the 2nd level not quite good enough to go up to the next level. Being Christmas and school holidays his teacher suggested that with extra practice he may be ready by the end of January and she'd be happy to reassess him then.

So over the holidays he practiced and practiced but I could see his heart wasnt in it. A little over a week before his assessment I checked in with his teacher only to find out that some of the skills he'd be tested on, we hadn't practiced. I was disappointed in myself for stuffing this up and I honestly thought 'what's the point, he won't pass'.

When we spoke about his reassessment he was majorly disappointed at the prospect of repeating his 2nd level class for the 3rd time. We were both really down in the dumps. But I asked him what he wanted to do and he said he wanted to give it his best shot. Extra practice with a good attitude. I worked out how much extra practice was possible (not easy as I was back at work this week) and we went for it. We managed 3 extra sessions and his attitude and effort were so much better. However some of the skills he was still weak on.

Fast forward to the assessment today and it was so nerve wracking for both of us. He was nervous and therefore not focused. I was annoyed and short-tempered until I woke up to myself and gave him a big hug, reassured him that he had done a great job so far and the outcome of today didn't really matter. Finally the assessment got underway 20 minutes late. His backward stroking was weak and my heart sunk but his teacher kept encouraging him. Next were t-stops and he had struggled with these during his practices. Well today he nailed them. Finally it was backward cross-overs the hardest of all and again something I didn't think he was strong on. Again his teacher gave lots of instruction and encouragement and he did them well.

They came off the ice, she all smiles, my boy still apprehensive of the outcome. 'Huge improvement. He can go up to the next level' was the verdict. We were both ecstatic.

In the car I made a point of highlighting the lesson in this and it's as simple as 'if you work hard, you will succeed.' My boy has no natural sporting talent. Anything he achieves in the way of sport, he'll have to work really hard for. I guess in the long run this will build great character. And as for me, I learnt that I should never under-estimate his ability to apply himself and achieve something that I think is beyond his reach. I guess that can be said for many things in life.

Have you ever been guilty of this?

M