Watched an old time movie ab this guy who turns around a school in England. I worked at a school worse that the one depicted in the movie. This was in Ks. It was completely chaotic. They had a 5yr losing streak in all sports. Bullying was common. Girls molested. Theyd squeeze others fingers until the cried or showed pain...then theyd laugh. They sharpened hammers in shop n throw them in walls or stick them in the floor. I opened the gym door and a rock grazed my eye. They were throwing at me, just throwing rocks. They were hanging a guy on the basketball goal for fun. The chair slipped and one student ran over n held the guy up so his neck wouldnt break. The guy whos place I took would get so upset that he would cry. In class I would tell one student to sit down and 3 would stand up. Who ever would pass out books they would trip. So when he would lose his balance he would just throw the books randomly in the air. Whoever a book hit he would pick it up and throw it back. The whole class was moving n talking at the same time. They were trying to see if I would cry but I kept my composure. I was calm on the outside but on the inside I was....LET ME GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!! My class was tame compared the others. One teacher they hated could not turn his back to write on the board. If he did several books would hit him in the back! So he had to come early to write on the board. If he didnt watch them then someone would erase his board. I preached n preached ab self control. I coached most of the sports and was also the athletic director. It took us 2yrs to tie a game. The 3rd yr we finally won 1. They were so happy I thought they would let the school out. Then we started a winning streak. By now I had developed some athletes. Students started making better grand n improving their attitude. We went to city championship finals but got beat by a taller, older team. The next yr we won most of our games...in all sports! We got to the quarter finals in bball. But were cheated out of winning! In the last min of the game we were 10pts ahead of this rich predominate white school. We were the poor ethnic school from the other side of the tracks. We lost the lead with 10 secs remaining. Or star athlete who had scored 31pts stole the ball. As he headed down the court 2 of their players tackled him. Right in front of the referee. He just looked n didnt blow the whistle. We were 1pt behind. All they had to do was retrieve the ball. Game was over! I was so mad even bf the buzzer sounded I headed across the court. It went off when I reached the ref on the other side. Instead of giving him hell I heard a big rumble behind me. All my students were going aft the ref. He grabbed with ball and with a look of fear he busted through these double doors. I had to stand there n block the students from going after him. Bc we lost that game we couldnt play for 1st. We had to play for 3rd against the team that just now beat us. It was a cold winter night. A ft of snow on the ground and 5 degrees. We were playing on the rich side of town. When I first came to the school there we ab 50 ppl at the game. When we came out the door the place was packed. Wall to wall ppl in the biggest gymnasium in the city. Held ab 5000 ppl. Everyone in the city had heard they beat us by 1 and that the referee almost got beat up! We had lost the last 3 games by 1 and 2 pts. Our boys were down. To pick them up I had told them miraculous stories of last second wins. They laughed at 1st but realized I was serious. Motto was: If you truly believe you can win you can win! So now were playing for 3rd place on the rich side of town in nearly blizzard conditions. But the setting looked like we were playing for the National championship. We got way behind early. I was so mad I told them to get the DAMN head in the game n play! They had never heard me cuss so when they heard damn they knew I meant business. We had almost caught up by half time. In the locker rm I told them those rich white boys think they are better than us. We know were better. So we will catch up and score and get ahead. Then they will get ahead. I said every time they pass us up then pass the back. It was that way til the end of the game. We were 4pts behind with 4secs left. We had the ball. They came off the court looking dejected. I yell what are you doing? PICK YOUR HEAD UP...WERE NOT BEAT! WE HAVE 4 SECONDS LEFT!! Since we had fouled out 3 starters, one of our subs, a Mexican boy stares into my eyes. Which seemed like an eternity! Then he says Coach I believe you! We are gonna win! He looks at each of the other boys n says...WERE GONNA WIN....Then they all chant WERE GONNA WIN, WERE GONNA WIN!! What ever it was you could feel it in the air. We truly believed we were gonna win. So I set up a play where our big man would start hi n then when the ball was hit he would go down low. We threw the ball to him and he shot n when he came down his defender hit him in the back. The referee says, basket good, foul after the shot 1 and 1. The clock had expired. If he missed either one of the free throws we would lose. When we got back I told them their coach was going to call bk to bk time outs to freeze our shooter. But that didnt matter bc Donnie was going to make them. Now heres what we are gonna do after he makes them. He made them both and we went on to win the game...IT WAS TRUELY A MIRACLE BC AT THAT TIME THERE WAS NO 3PT LINE. The rich white folks were so stunned that they didnt move for 5mins. I dont know where all the ppl of color came from but they stormed the court!! From that time on we turned the worst school in the World to the Best school in the World. Every one was happy...no fights whatsoever!! They even gave me a surprise award for being the teacher/coach of the Year!! But one of the community mothers ruined it for me and told me...I was so pissed bc I had to act surprised....but I was surprised when they awarded me with a stop watch engraved with...To the best teacher/coach ever!!!
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 07:02:59 +0000
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