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raslas 9 years, 7 months ago.
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At times it can be difficult to grab the pom-poms and lead the Rah, rah, rah! cheer, especially when other seem disconnected.
Share with us an example of a time when your enthusiasm motivated others and how this led to a positive outcome.
Following the signals from space.
Upon moving to Washburn quite a few years ago, I joined with three other active people to organize and incorporate an organization called the Bay Area Active Sports Alliance. The “rah-rah” idea was to hold a variety of silent sports outings in the Chequamegon Bay Area for year-round activities. This was for non-competitive and family-oriented silent sports activities for all levels of ability. Our activities included hiking, snowshoeing, xc skiing, canoeing, kayaking, biking, and having candle-light skis, snowshoes and hikes, to name a few. We provided an avenue for new people to the area to meet others and learn about the Bay Area. We developed a newsletter which later developed to email communication. We also supported other silent sports organizations monetarily and cooperatively. We put on an Expo for Silent Sports at Ashland’s Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center for three years.
I was involved for 10 years with this until I stepped down from a leadership role. My enthusiasm held up the group for 10 years. Sadly as sometimes happens with volunteer groups, the enthusiasm of others could not sustain the organization. I feel it was a great 10 years of activities, meeting new people, and many have expressed to me they really miss what the Bay Area Active Sports Alliance provided for themI’d Rather Be Lost Geocaching, Than Found At Home!
I will take this back about 15 years ago during my 3rd year as a Special Olympics Softball Coach volunteer. I lived in Milwaukee at the time and my “kids” were all inner city participants. With this, I had many cultural and psychological hurdles to overcome. Our team was disjointed to say the least. My first baseman had anger issues not only with me, but with life in general. My Dad was the previous coach and he had all sorts of advice to give. My sister was the catcher because that was the best spot I could put her in while keeping her in play. My third baseman had frequent bathroom accidents. On top of that, we were a horrible team. I was in over my head. I didn’t know what to do.
One day I decided to try a different approach and instead of team practice I did one on one practice with each team member. I enlisted the help of my Dad and another friend to help with the regular practice while I went to individually help each player in their position. We had one on one time. We connected. I encouraged them. It wasn’t always about baseball. It was about them and what was going on in their lives.
My first baseman loved the Drew Carey Show (especially Mimi) and I was able to refocus his attention to the task at hand by bringing up situations from the show. My Dad continued to be my dad, but he supported me and my mission to help these “kids” individually. My third baseman had less frequent accidents. But, my sister was still the catcher. But that encouragement comes in different ways nowadays. We went on to take 3rd Place at the State Championships that year. In my eyes, it will always be 1st. Awesome job MPS Hot Feet!
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
-Henry David Thoreau
At school last semester, there was another student who sat next to me who was very frustrated and just not understanding the final assignment that the teacher had given us to do. We had several weeks to work on the project, and it was coming due and she had not started working on the project. She had talked with the teacher, and it just wasn’t clicking with her as to what she really needed to do. She pretty much had given up. I encouraged her that she should not give up, that she could do it, and that I would walk her through everything that she needed to do. She was grateful for the help, but was still very frustrated and hopeless. The next two weeks we worked together on her project. Things started slowly, but when she finally got it, she lit up, and smiled! Whoo, success! She finally had clarity, and was able to finish the project.
~ **~ All posts are my opinion and do not in any way reflect the opinion of the WGA Board of Directors ~**~
Being involved with martial arts, sometimes motivation can be a difficult thing to get flowing. As a high ranking Blackbelt, at our tournaments, I am often called to Center Judge one of the competition rings. This means that all eyes are on me and I have to make it exciting for the participants (and parents). This can be really hard sometimes depending on the age of the group I am centering for.
many times these younger children are maybe not be the competitive types or they are nervous, or tired since they had to get up early on a Saturday to come and compete. I do my best to hype them up and get them ready to go. Often I get dry mouth just talking to them before we even start their competition. I really harp on the do your best and that is all you can do, and sometimes your best may not be better than someone else’s best that day but as long as you did your best, it was a successful day.Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.
Many times changes are made at work that are not popular with the employees in my department. We are a small department so I always try to find some good in the bad and try to change everyone’s bad attitude to positive. I try to convince them to just give it a try and it usually takes a few days but by everyone working together it isn’t as bad as we thought it was at the start.
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