It’s the end of another amazing term at school, and the highlight for me was the flourishing of the Triathlon and Multisport squads that my colleague and friend Nikki (she’s the one in the pig tails getting the hug from Dan) and I have been developing.
These teenagers are such a joy to be around, and they attended the 4-6 training sessions we ran every week with abundant energy, humour and enthusiasm. They competed in some major multisport events in the region, including the Ghost to Ghost race in St Bathans (where the photo above was taken) and the 3 Day 380km Gold Rush event, as well as a number of shorter triathlon and duathlon events.
I think when I finally succumbed to my desire to be a teacher that it was this level of involvement with the students that I most aspired to, and the satisfaction and pleasure it brings is immeasurable.
More and more I’m thinking of myself (as I was saying to Stephen the other day) as that single rural high school teacher archetype that we all carry in our subconscious cannon of forms for men. The one who wears a black suit and has a serious expression and lives in a tidy austere house and chops his own wood. He goes for early morning runs and you can see the steam his breath forms. He’s self-contained, but in there you know there’s passion too.
How interesting my ideas of myself become. If I’m going to be chopping wood for the oncoming winter, then I’d better get myself an axe. Oh, and some wood.
How is your autumn?
