The happy life of teacher librarians: Tenpin

Yup, I do sport one afternoon a week.  Not all teacher librarians do, and it depends on your school.  It's not always fun, but there are ways to make the best of it.  Another teacher and I have teamed up, and with the sports we've had over the last year, we've set up draws and tournaments and score-keeping on the computer, not only to record the kids' progress, but also to work on the socialisation, so they don't just play against their friends.  We award them certificates at the end of the term too, something to add to their portfolios.  The kids appreciate the extra effort we put in, and we can see its impact on each term's group.

This term, we've had tenpin bowling.  A couple of times, one of us has played too, and the kids like seeing if they can beat us.  A couple of weeks ago, when I bowled, I told the kids I'd buy a cool drink for any of them who beat my score.  That week, it was 92, and I bought about five drinks.

This week, we needed one more body on a lane, so although I hadn't planned to bowl (it makes it harder to pay attention to the other lanes and see how others are going, encouraging the kids and so forth), I did.  Hmmm.  The bowling gods were with me (this little black duck not actually having done any tenpin bowling since my teenage years) and I got a couple of strikes and some decent tallies. 

I glanced over at the lane of the boy I knew to be the best bowler.  Hmmm again.  I was almost level pegging.  So I had my turns, and scooted up and down the lanes celebrating strikes and spares and nicely aimed bowls with the kids.  That boy's lane group finished faster than my lane group, and I saw his final score was 138.  I turned around to collect my third last ball, and saw him standing behind our lane, watching my score...

And I laughed aloud, and said, "Eddie, I feel like a winner already!"

He looked at me, puzzled.  "Why?"

"Buddy, if you have to watch the score of this old bat, then I've got you a little worried, and that's a great compliment!"

He grinned wryly.  And was back watching as I had my last two balls to go.  

I got a spare, and thus an extra ball too, and my final score was 144 - the highest of our school group, that day.  Eddie nodded in acknowledgement, and went off to join his friends. 

And I chuckled at the happy life of teacher librarians, sporting style!

Cheers

Ruth

(PS.  His name isn't Eddie, of course, but that doesn't change the story...)