To Be Judged

What a week this has been for little DJ.  DJ is now 12 years old and this past week has been in the position of be "judged" 3 times.  Now none us like to be in the position of having our work under scrutiny, but in the process of learning sometimes it is necessary.  I am just sorry for her that so much of it had to come all at once..

Monday morning she woke not feeling well.  She was to go to the middle school music festival and sing her solo (from previous entry..yes she got to go after all).  But before they were to leave she was to present her annual science fair project to those judges.  I thought perhaps she was just nervous about all of this and that was the source of her not feeling well.  However she was running a slight temperature.  Her science project was to be judged at 8:30, so I gave her a couple of Tylenol and sent her on her way so that she would a least get credit for her project.  No judging, no credit.  Well she called me afterward as planned so that I could come get her to bring her home, and she said the Tylenol had made her feel great and she was going to the music festival after all.

They got back from the festival around 6:30, the public viewing of the science projects had already begun.  My bosses wife had gone along to the music festival and videoed her performance and told me she did wonderfully.  Her sister was also there with the Jr High band and had done a duet on her flute.  Mrs Boss had video of all of it for me. 

Well she ended up getting 3rd place for the 6th grade on her science fair project and an invitation to the regional fair next month.  The adjudicator at the music festival was blown away by her performance, but thought she should have dressed nicer (Mom error, remember she wasn’t going to festival, she was not well, so I didn’t bother having her dress up, oh well).

Fast forward to Friday.  Both girls went to the MT select camp for hockey.  This was 2 1/2 days of training with 2 of the premier hockey coaches from a girls hockey school in Canada,  It was an awesome learning experience for both of them.  But at the same time 3 evaluators were watching their every move and deciding if they would be eligible to particapte on the MT Select team this spring.  DJ was in a group they called 14 & Under, JD was in the 19 & under group, although she is only 14.  This was very confusing for all of us.  Anyhow, they both did very well.  DJ was placed on the 14 & U team and JD was given an alternate position on the 19 & U team.  Then they asked if she would like to play on the 14 & U team with her sister?  She considered if for a while.  She thought maybe she should let DJ have this just to herself (JD was on this team last year), but after talking it over with her we persuaded her to go ahead and agree, the team is very young and needs a leader, and besides, one of her very good friends from another town is being asked to join as well (she missed the camp due to illness, but the coaches know her and want her on the team too if she will agree).  So she has agreed to join this younger team.  I hope we are all making a good decision here.  Only time will tell. 

The team has a tournament scheduled in Minot, ND the end of March.  There will be 4 teams from ND, 2 from SD, MT, and possibly WY.  Then the middle of April (no, not the middle of April) our home state tourney.  Finally, just for fun they are trying to get into a tourney in Salt Lake City.  That’s in Utah, right?  I was visiting with a parent from the Western edge of MT and we figured it was about the same distance for her to go to Minot, ND as it is for us to go to SLC.  Who’s idea was it to make MT so big?   Oh, well, can’t worry about that as it isn’t even a done deal yet. 

So all in all, even though being judged can be trying and stressful, she came out smell pretty rosie.  We are all very proud of her efforts and hope she has great success with both the regional science fair and the Select team.