Note from Steve M about middle school championship meet

from Steve McChesney:

Hi All,

I write this note as I am preparing to go to bed prior to our All State Championship bid tomorrow.
Today the four middle schools of Newton held the first meet on our new track and field facility in fine fashion. Some would have wanted the first meet on the track to be a Newton South meet, but I say that our program begins with the great work done at our two great middle school programs and them holding the first meet makes perfect sense. I also salute the wonderful teams that feed into Newton North as they are also stellar. It was a full day of high energy, wonderful performances and a great spirit among the kids, coaches and parents.

As a coach I have our own state championship on my mind and I did not intend to stay until the end of the meet today. But I could not help myself as the meet was so exciting in terms of kids having a great day and dedicated coaches making it happen. The quality of the performances have Matt and myself grinning from ear to ear. We were both truly impressed with the strength of both Oak Hill and Brown, Brown and Oak Hill (I do this with my twin boys names all of the time). We have had to travel away from South to practice and have not gotten to see these two teams practice or compete all that much. These two teams are both sending a strong class of kids to South next year and combined they will make their mark and have a lot of fun doing it.

But it was not the athletic achievements that I enjoyed the most. These teams are very full of delightful kids. Normally I move about the City meet talking with kids and even though some know who I am and what I do I feel like a bit like a stranger coming into their world. In the past we have held clinics for the middle school teams and we get to more of their meets. I had not been able to do any of that and still I had a lot of delightful conversations from boys and girls from both Brown and Oak Hill, Oak Hill and Brown. I found myself sitting on the turf or standing with groups of middle school kids having a nice chat often. A lot of kids told me how much they were looking forward to working with us in high school. This rarely happens as most kids that age are engaged in the moment. I have gone to middle school meets for 28 years now and this group of kids seemed to be able to focus on the moment and also be excited about the future in a way I have rarely seen before. So I could not leave. Each new conversation that I enjoyed made me more interested in what they were doing on the day. They pulled me into the meet as a person and not as a coach and I enjoyed that a great deal.

In short the social grace of these kids and their maturity was as fine of a tribute to their teams as was their exciting athletic achievments.

Hats off to the staffs of both teams. You have coached two wonderful teams that achieve as fine young people and as athletes. You must have had a lot of fun as these kids are so delightful.

Now I am excited to do my part at All State

Steven McChesney