The End of the Odyssey

Back in October, Faith begged to be a part of some activity called the Odyssey of the Mind.  Having heard only tidbits over the previous school year, my assumption was it was some secret squirrel club we didn't qualify for.  But when she brought home the flyer for the information meeting, I gave in and we went.

About Odyssey of the Mind

It seemed like something she'd totally love and so I signed her up and offered to co-coach after some coaxing.  The entire thing is kid-designed and kid-led so how hard could it possibly be?

It was hard.  Not physically hard...or even time consuming hard.  But it was super hard to let the kids create their own concept, plan, script, set.  

I never realized what a control freak I was until I had sit quietly and watch 7 very intelligent girls struggle with creating a PVC pipe backdrop.  In my head, I was yelling "it's out of shape, the weight distribution is the problem, no a rock won't help".  I think my co-coach and I actually cheered when one of the girls very quietly said "maybe we could duct tape it".  I think we scared the poor girl when we got all excited. "What was that??!!!! What was your fabulous idea?!?!? Perhaps you could try her idea girls!"

This brave man gave Faith a power saw to break down a huge box for their backdrop.  Kid-led means THEY have to do it all

Then the girls went crazy spray painting their new backdrop, only to scrap the whole plan 3 days before the competition

It was hard to know if we were preparing them properly for the spontaneous part of the competition. At that point, the girls walk into a room alone, and either perform a verbal or hands on or mixed spontaneous problem with no one else in the room but the judges.  Everything is timed, with very specific instructions and specific criteria to meet.  They themselves must ensure they hear the instructions, understand them and respond as best they can.

The hardest part however, was seeing their sad little faces when they learned they placed 5th out of 16 teams in their division.  They wouldn't go on to the State Competition.  It was the end of the road for our team.  With two girls having placed at the World Competition the year before, I knew they were particularly disappointed.  And despite my own exhaustion, I was a little disappointed too. The girls worked so hard. They got top scores for Style and their Long-Term Problem. It was that tricky spontaneous score that brought them down to 5th.

I was proud of the girls.  Despite not getting the outcome they wanted and their little hearts being broken, they still cheered for the other teams in their school.  They congratulated other teams and friends they saw. They were good sports and good kids.  Especially since they nominated us, their coaches for an Omer Award, which was a pretty cool moment. We all did our very best. That's about all we can ask.

This goat really sums up the OM experience