Introduction
Your Stories
OMers Abound
Weather from Iowa
OM Words
Changing a Lightbulb
A Serious Performance
Copying Art
Once Upon a Mattress
The Ballad of Oz

I like the analogy of OM competitions being like a "thought marathon". For most marathoners, the PROCESS of training for the race, tracking their "personal best" times and being with people who enjoy this same activity on race day is the motivation for their running. The box of lost props might be compared to shoe laces breaking a few moments before a race.

We presented the situation to the kids and asked what they wanted to do. They could have moaned about "bad luck". They could have become depressed and opted to "scratch" themselves from the race. Instead, to my great pride, they instantly and unanimously said they wanted to try to rebuild the missing props.

That day was clear, mild and pleasant. We decided to approach rebuilding the missing props like a spontaneous problem. We told the team they should spend and hour or two brain-storming, creating a list of desired materials and dividing the necessary activities among themselves. Like a Spontaneous, they should plan on limiting their building activity to a fixed amount of time and STOP when time was called. We admonished the parents that mis-haps like this did nothing to alter the rules against Outside Assistance and assigned a parent and/or coach to work with each group.

One group went "dumpster diving" to collect raw materials. I took one team member to the hardware store to purchase tools and materials they'd identified. My wife and co-coach (Ellen Hartzler) stayed with a group re-assembling the props that had arrived whole.

This team has been a dream to coach. They work well together, are very creative and always seem to have fun. At the end of 5-6 hours, all the missing props were completely reconstructed better, in my opinion, than the originals. For me, this was the highlight of my coaching experience. Instead of opting out of the race when their laces broke, they fashioned new ones from the available materials and went on with the race without missing a step!

Friday mornings weather was highly unsettled -- the wind was gusting and the clouds promised something exciting. The team was the first to compete that day and the 8 A.M. start time left the facility ominously quiet. Weigh-in came and went without surprises -- the first hurdle was passed. The props were moved to the staging area and the team received their instructions from the judges. As time began, the two boys who moved the weights and retrieved the balls (Matt Pearson and Kyle Anixter) moved like a well-oiled machine. When they they did their second 2-ball CRUNCH (at a little over 300 pounds weight held), a piece of the structure sprang several feet away onto the floor -- but the structure held. From that point on, I expected every weight placed and every ball dropped to be accompanied by the loud CRASH of a collapsing structure -- but the only sounds were those of the team calmly going about their business.

One of the style elements was to create a ball retrieval device. The team had created a very effective system from an old vacuum cleaner. They went on to use the exhaust from the vacuum to pump air into boxes with decorated trash bags attached to the top -- so as the play went on, these bags filled to create characters that were part of the play. Near the end, a battle takes place between these inflatable characters and the "heroes" of the play. Unfortunately, there was no way to practice this aspect of the play without destroying the prop. At one point, while Matt and I were stacking a weight, I heard a loud "POP" and looked over to see that one of the team members (Katie Donnovan) "fighting" with the inflatable characters has decided to "do in" her opponent by knocking him down and jumping on him! Keep in mind that the whole time Katie is demolishing the prop at one end, Kyle is still using it to extract balls from against the structure from the other!

After 9 additional 45 pound weights (and seven more 2-ball CRUNCHs), the side of the structure where the piece had flown finally cracked -- but the structure still held! Matt and I collected one last 45 pound weight and as we were about to place it, the structure collapsed. I looked up to see the team member who played the evil thief (Grant Cole) lying among the ruins of his inflatable henchmen while Katie and the other hero character (played by Ewin Chao) were performing the closing scene. The structure had held 710 pounds -- 180 pounds more than any previous structure and the play and structure ended at the exact same time. It simply doesn't get any better than that! The non-performing team members (Patty Allen and Melody Thompson) rushed out and celebrated with their team-mates.

At that moment, I was as proud as any coach could be. The team had rallied from adversity, not simply to finish the race, but to finish it with their "personal best" effort! No matter what happened, I knew this team would be able to feel wonderfully about how they had done. I don't know about most coaches, but my wishes focus on everything going smoothly rather than on the final outcome of the competition. I always tell the kids (and firmly believe myself) that the only thing the team can control in an OM competition is their own performance. This team had certainly done the best they could -- I knew they would feel proud.

The Spontaneous element of the competition took place in the afternoon -- accompanied by a quiet, gentle rain. Saturday was spent cheering for fellow CA teams, trying to catch up on the pin trading they missed while by rebuilding their props and waiting for the closing ceremonies. If a Ranatra Fusca is to be announced, it was done between the announcement of the second and first place teams. It's impossible to describe the feeling of hearing our teams ball retrieval device described as the winner of the Ranatra Fusca Award. It is pretty much a blur from there, but some time during the long run to the stage to pick up the Ranatra Fusca Award, they announced that our team had won first place as well!

The next morning the sky was clear and the air calm. As we unloaded the luggage to check in for the plane, I saw the rising sun use the few remaining wisps of clouds as the canvas for one of the most beautiful sun rises I've ever seen. I expect my feet will touch ground some time in the next week or so -- but it hasn't happened yet. Needless to say, the whole adventure is one we will not soon forget.

Bill Allen
Bill Allen's team from Walt Disney Elementary in San Ramon, California, took first place in Division 1 Crunch with a weight held of 710 pounds. They also had cool California Raisin pins!