My Hero – my lesson. 9am

A few weeks back I had the privilege of helping out a sports day in a large comprehensive school. All the fast kids were doing the sprints and all the non-sporty kids were sitting on the ground to watch. My job was to lead the cheering, keep the watchers motivated in watching and the runners running fast. I didn’t realize that screaming myself hoarse and playing the clown was part of my job description when I signed up to be a teacher, but you know, as things go, there are far worse jobs I could be doing.
 
So there I was, leaping up and downn when suddenly I saw one of ‘my kids’ out there on the track. ‘My’ Tommy* was about to run the 400 meters.
 
Now Tommy is a smaller lad than many of his class mates. He is a lovely, rosy cheeked, polite and respectful young thing who finds himself in a class of loud-mouthed, hyper-active kids who have little interest in still sitting on their chairs for two minutes flat. Tommy is not the brightest spark in the fire, but he tries hard.
 
Tommy taught me a fabulous lesson that day. He has a sight disorder. Without his glasses he probably couldn’t see his hand stretched out in front of his face. To work, his sits with his nose pressed to his laptop. He instinctively knows where the keys are, writing is hard.
 
That sunny day, Tommy ran the 400 meters. He probably couldn’t see the track markings but he stayed within his lane, albeit wandering from side to side. He ran all the way, even though he came in a good 100 meters behind the other competitors.
 
But Tommy ran that day. He gave it his all and the next day he told me that he had only been down as reserve for the 100 meters. He put his name down because no body else would and you got points for having competitors. He did it to help his team.
 
Tommy didn’t win any medals that day. He didn’t have any glorious finishes like some of the stunning budding young athletes out there on the field. But Tommy stole my heart during that race and taught me one of the greatest lessons I have learned. Hold your head high, stand up and be counted and get out there and do your thing! Be proud to have done it because many others don’t dare to do the same and many more just couldn’t be bothered to make the effort.
 
Go Tommy!
 
* Please note, Tommy’s name has been changed for obvious reasons.