Sunday Football Lessons by Michael

Sunday Football Lessons by Michael - December 2019 Scholarship Essay

Sitting in a metal chair in the corner of a small classroom, I was overcome with a mixture of fear and nervousness. It was the first day of Sunday school for the year and it was clear I was outmatched by a bunch of fourth graders. Eleven rambunctious children ran wild, with their Bibles tossed to the side and Legos scattered everywhere. Class was about to start, and I had no idea how to control them.
Although my mother and I had taught Sunday school together, I had never been the lead teacher. It had been my mom’s responsibility to control the class and craft the lesson. I had always been a helper, and I had no clue how to prepare the week's lesson and activities, much less manage a classroom on my own. I didn’t even know where I would find the time to plan in between my job, football lifting, and demanding school coursework. To complicate it more, this seemed to be the worst group of kids in my years of experience.
When it was time for class to start, I ordered them to put away their toys and squeeze around the classroom’s only table. Because it was the first day, I occupied them with a game to learn each other's names, as well as give me a chance to learn theirs. Later, I took my class to large group to sing and listen to a Bible story. As we walked in, I was horrified to realize that the clock on my classroom wall was wrong; I had shown up ten minutes late. Embarrassed because I interrupted a song, I quietly sat my class down on the carpet and briskly strode to a chair in the back corner. I felt so out of place as a sixteen-year old in a room filled with elementary students and adults ranging in age from mid-forties to seventies. I hoped the rest of the year would not go this poorly.
As the weeks progressed, I drew on my experiences in football and applied them to my Sunday school classroom with the same determination. I have played football since I was six years old and I learned discipline, perseverance, goal setting, and commitment. I learned how to handle both success and failure. During football, I had become a leader on my team by bringing up new team members while setting an example for others. Once I realized I could do the same for my Sunday school students, the kid’s behavior improved exponentially. Although at first I wanted to go ballistic every time a kid threw playdough, my patience improved each week. I took more time out of my busy schedule to develop lessons and activities for my class. I started by looking at the story planned for large group and used that to prepare the lesson for the small group. In addition, I searched for games to help the kids better learn the week’s story; for example, one week we played Bible Jeopardy. In the beginning, making a lesson was a chore, but eventually, I started to enjoy it. Each kid had a unique sense of humor and brought something different to the group.
Correspondingly, what I learned teaching Sunday school translated to other aspects of my life. In the school classroom, I have become a leader with group projects where before I was only a participant. I never would have thought something that was seemingly a burden would turn into something that has impacted my life so much. Although I may not be able to teach Sunday school when I start college, I know I will carry the lessons my class taught me throughout my life.