March Madness

Yes, I know it's been 5 weeks since my last post, and I know it's no longer March, but I think that the NCAA basketball championships are tonight, so I am still going to title this blog "March Madness".

The title and idea for this one came to me month, smackdab in the midst of judging season. It's own kind of madness in March for the Ag/FFA world of NM. I jotted the idea down in the little folder I keep for such things on my desk, and had every intention of writing about it, when life took over and well now it's April. Nevertheless, the idea stayed with me.

Judging Season. Two words that can strike fear, bring a smile or a tear, and give some a migraine. However, for the most part, this is one of the best times of year to be an Ag Teacher. Now it's not all sunshine and daisies...especially if it's a bad weather year and you're in Carrizozo trying to judge Livestock...but I digress. But really, all the long hours of practice, the early mornings and late nights, the zeros for messed up scantrons can't erase the pride we have when things go right.

Here's a brief recap of what my "Mad March" was like -- Judging Season 2011

We actually started middle of February. Some schools start early, others later, but for the most part we've figured out what works best for us and this is it. After dividing up the kids and organizing a schedule we commence to having afterschool practices. However these practices have to be late enough to accomodate the basketballers of our group, so we had a split schedule of 5:00 to 6:30 and 6:30 to 8:00. We also had what we called, "Open Practice" for anyone who wanted to come in, from when school got out to 5pm. In the last month, I have spent more time with my kids and colleagues than any of us have with our own families. Each contest had a time slot and practices usually had the tendency to go long, rather than ending early...pretty sure I haven't seen any of the new episodes of Grey's or Private Practice.

The first contest we hit was in Hot Springs -- 4:00 am departure (3:00 for me from my house) and 9:00pm return (10pm for me). This was a LOOONNNG day on the bus. But we had fun and a little success. However I learned that there is no quick way to T or C.

Week 2 was our perennially favorite, Carrizozo. This might be the longest running Invitational Judging in NM. I don't really know that but it's also known for crazy unpredictable weather, I can distinctly recall judging Horses in the snow, hearing stories of breaking water in the buckets at land, and getting sun/wind burnt a few times. This was also a pretty successful contet, minus the scantron I ran over with the Excursion.

Week 3 - Las Cruces. The same weekend as the State Basketball tournament where a vast majority of our students were either playing or cheering for our team. Another long day, lots of little 7th and 8th graders, me driving the Excursion, lots of laughs. Again fairly successful.

Week 4 - ENMU -- Two day adventure to Portales midweek. Two 6am days but it wasn't dark when we got home...major plus. We had a good run of luck. Kids learned and were able to use what we'd been doing at practice. I was super glad to be riding the bus to and fro...got my naps in. We also had a weekend off that was a nice addition to the schedule.

Week 5 - Roswell -- This contest probably required the most work on the advisors part. Depending on who you ask this contest is called, Los Amigos, or Los Cincos Amigos, or the Cinco Amigos...who knows...pretty sure a better name is Los Amigos Locos...I just might have to suggest that next year. Anyway, this contest is a group effort on the part of 4 different chapters and about 8 advisors and who ever else we can con, wrangle or coerce into helping us. We try really hard for this to be a great contest. It's right before State, this year teams were already set for the most part. For many it was a chance to tune up. For me it was a LOOOONNNGG day but really fun. I got to have first hand experience putting together a contest I never had before and it went really smooth.

Week 6 - State --- Now it was for all the marbles. Last week...aka Spring Break to everyone else in the district except me, the other FFA advisor, the Student Teacher, and our State bound kids and coaches. We had a great time. Lots of success. Too many laughs to count and a few good memories. All but 3 teams were in the top 10. We had a 1st, 2- 2nds, a 4th, a 5th, 2 -6ths, a 7th, an 8th, and a 10th. We finished 2nd in Hort sweepstakes. And 6 top 5 individuals.

So the madness that was March (and a little of February and April) was sooo worth it. I've been involved in Judging Season in just about every way a person can -- participant, coach, FFA Advisor, planner, organizer, conductor...all have plusses and drawbacks, but the best part is just being involved.