An interesting thing happened yesterday. My principal came into the gym during practice. A quick word about my principal. For some reason, winning is very important to her, so I can’t say that I was terribly surprized to see her. During the fall, our girls volleyball team won the city championship, and a few months later our girls basketball team advanced to the championship game before losing. The day before that game, my principal said to me, “How are the boys looking? I want to sweep the championships this year!” She sort of laughed as she said this, but it was clear that she was at least partly serious.
And so here she was, standing next to me in the gym as I tried to direct practice. She asked about whether or not the girls basketball coach was still going to be able to help me as previously planned, and I told her that I wasn’t sure, even though I knew that she wouldn’t be able to. As she surveyed the team that she had never before laid eyes on, she said, “There’s a lot of talent out here. How many games have you lost?” For a fleeting moment I had a vision of how Bobby Knight would respond to this line of questioning, but I chose the high road. Without taking my eyes from the drill my boys were running, I answered, “Two.” And then I walked away.
How could I possibly have taken her remarks? Her clear implication was that I’m not doing a very good job and that we could be doing better with someone else. As soon as practice was over, I found myself fighting different emotions. Initially, I couldn’t believe what had happened. This was, afterall, only middle school basketball. If you ask any of the coaches involved, everyone will tell you that winning is important to them. There are losses from several years ago that I still remember vividly. Winning is important, but when did it become a priority? Should I be concerned about my position? There’s another teacher at school who’s been vocal about wanting to take over the team, and it wouldn’t surprize me if he had mentioned something to the principal, instigating her trip to the gym. In response, I was tempted to walk into her office and remind her that only last year we had been the undefeated league champions before losing in the playoffs, and that we had advanced all the way to the semi-finals the year before. I also felt compelled to tell her that there really wasn’t a lot of talent out there, and to prepare her for the fact that we’ll probably lose again next week.
So I made up my mind to talk to her, but she wasn’t at school on Friday, so I let it go. It could be that she’ll never think of it again, or it could be that she’ll talk to me again the next time we lose. It’s best not to waste rational thought on an irrational situation.
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