Five Things I’ll Miss About After School Programming
Written by Callie Rodenbiker
As summer approaches, temperatures get warmer, and traffic on the Kennedy gets even more unbearable, After School programming is beginning to wind down. By the third week in June, my title of Coach Callie will be a name of the past. Here are five things, in particular, that I will miss most about After School programming:
5. Snack Time
We always start our After School sessions with a small snack — maybe an oatmeal raisin granola bar or a bag of caramel Pop Chips. Often, this is my favorite part of programming. It’s the time when I get to check in with the girls and ask them for life updates. It’s the time when we talk about the Royal Wedding, Cardi B’s latest single, and the best recipe for slime. Though I love teaching about proper tennis grips and the importance of flossing, I cherish the unstructured moments of programming, too. Who knew granola bars could bring about so much fun
4. Senior Coaches
At Girls in the Game, Senior Coaches are high school students involved in Teen Squad that help coach at an After School site and receive a scholarship. This year, I had the pleasure of working with two Senior Coaches — Ronni and Amira. Every week they helped by facilitating transition games, leading attention getters, engaging withdrawn girls and being role models. It has been a joy to see them grow in their relationships with the younger girls and their coaching skills.
3. Sports
How many people can say that they get to play games for their job? Over the past 30 weeks, I’ve played basketball, volleyball, flag football, lacrosse, yoga, softball, jump rope, dance, kickboxing, soccer and probably 852 variations of tag. Not only do I get to teach sports to girls but I also get to see them grow in self-confidence. When I witness that moment of pride from a perfectly thrown football or a spectacular volleyball dig, I’m convinced that I have one of the best jobs in the world.
2. Seeing the formation of a team
When I think back to the first day of programming back in September, I realize that my teams looked very different than they do now. Back then, the girls engaged with one or two girls that they knew from class. Now, they interact with all of their teammates, giggling with girls unknown to them seven months ago.
At both of my After School sites, we recently did what turned out to be a very powerful affirmation activity. The girls were given a sheet of paper and walked around exchanging sheets to write compliments on each other’s papers. The girls at my middle school site responded enthusiastically, wanting to write entire paragraphs of affirmation to each other, so we had to cancel the rest of the activities we had planned for the session. At my elementary site, I overheard one of the girls say, beaming, to her friend, “I’m gonna frame this and hang it in my room!” These groups have transformed from somewhat-wary strangers attending the same school into supportive and caring teammates.
1. The girls
Without a doubt, what I will miss the most is my girls. They make me laugh, teach me how to Milly Rock, inspire my exasperated eye rolls, braid my hair and bring joy into my life every day. Though the job of a coach is to impact their players with instruction and mentoring, my girls have touched my life, too.
Callie is the Citywide Initiatives Coordinator at Girls in the Game. After graduating in May 2017 from Concordia College (Moorhead, MN) with a major in English Education, she joined the Lutheran Volunteer Corps and found Girls in the Game. She’s been here since August 2017 and, as she wrote above, absolutely loves working with our girls.
