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This is Mothers' Day, as good a time as any to discuss
parenthood in general, and in specific, a pathology
commonly known as Little League Parenthood.
The symptoms are too familiar to need amplification: rabid concern over your child's performance, instant on-call chauffeur service for practices and events, incessant parental prattle that can go on for hours about the most trivial aspects of the activity.
Earlier during this foray into parenthood, I avoided the affliction by the simple expedient of sloth, which comes easily for me. If they wanted to participate in something, they had feet and allowances, as well as the good sense not to pester me about it.
Then came this year's Odyssey of the Mind,
which
is an international competition in creative
problem-solving. Abby, a sixth-grader now, has been
participating for the past three years on a team with
mostly the same kids: Tanya Cox, Staci Teeter, David
Rollins, Nick Boshinski, Sara Ward and Tracie Fear.
They finished fifth at the western Colorado regional the
first year. Last year they took first there, and placed
fifth in state. This year, competing as the Salida
Spacecases
and coached by Greg Phillips and Carla
Kailey, they took state.
It was the first time a team from the western region has ever won a state Odyssey title. Though I had absolutely nothing to do with their victory -- I wasn't even on the sidelines to encourage them -- I felt quite proud.
As state champions, they go on to compete in the world championships, which are a lot closer to a true planetary title than, say, the World Series. There are Odyssey teams from 49 states as well as Japan, the Soviet Union, Mexico, the Philippines and China.
The 1990 world championships run from May 31 to June 2 in Ames, Iowa. Grandmaster chess is somewhat less complicated than the logistics of getting seven kids, coaches, spouses, and assorted parents and siblings from here to there for three days and back. It's not a cheap undertaking either.
Suddenly I got infected with Little League Parenthood, planning transportation and helping figure out how to raise money -- car washes, T-shirt sales, pleas to local companies and community organizations -- for what had just become the most important matter in the universe.
This isn't a rich town, but they've all been quite supportive. It's something that makes you feel good about living in a little town.
One thing I've heard a lot, though, is that small towns are typically more than enthusiastic about athletic championships, whereas academic pursuits like Odyssey often draw little community support.
That hasn't been the case here, this time around. But overall, it probably is true of small towns, and there's a good reason. The high-school jocks represent the future of the community, in that they're the ones who stay around after high school.
On the other hand, the stellar academic performers will have to seek their fortunes elsewhere upon graduation. Any community investment in them is truly a generous act of disinterested charity, because the major export of rural towns is smart kids.
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