Bounce Passes & Poodle Skirts

In the town of Rye, New Hampshire the old church in the center of Rye’s historical district is only a stone’s throw away from the Rye Junior High School. It has been my goal to be involved as much as possible at the school. Over the winter I filled a vacant spot to coach 7th & 8th grade boys basketball. In many respects, the very notion that I would even attempt to be a middle school basketball coach is hilarious. To begin with, I have never coached basketball. Secondly, I didn’t play organized basketball past the 8th grade (I got cut from the freshman team). Thirdly, I’m just not very good at basketball. But I wasn’t going to let this stop me. My team went 3-5 for the year including a buzzer-beating loss to a private school from Portsmouth. Overall, it was a great experience; I learned a lot and got my “in” with the school in Rye.

Last week I started helping out at the school in Rye again. For this next gig I have exchanged the whistle and clip-board for a script book. I’ve assumed the roles of back stage supervisor, set design assembler, video camera operator, and push the play button on the CD player guy for the school’s production of Grease. Again, like the coaching gig, I have no idea what I’m doing.