Tal

 PCA Speech

I would like to start off by sharing a story that represents many of the young athletes we work with at Hyde Leadership Public Charter School in Washington DC.

7 years ago, our rugby team was practicing a tackle drill when I looked over and saw one of our students named “PJ” on the sideline throwing broken glass at our players. I jogged over and asked “what the heck are you doing?” PJ calmly continued his throwing and replied “ya’ll are some cut.” For those who are not from DC that means we “stink.” He further added that “no one could tackle” him and that he “could beat anyone out there.” PJ seemed to have a bigger mouth than his 5’1 and 110 pound frame could carry.

I decided to let him have a go at running the ball. I called the “team” together told them that their job was to tackle this kid. In hearing this, PJ replied “it ain’t gonna happen.”

I handed PJ the ball and off he went straight through a pack of 15 kids without a single player laying a finger on him. He turned around laughing and asked if we “wanted some more” and then took off again. With a series of momentum defying moves he once again shot through our line of defenders leaving them grasping at nothing but air. As he strutted back and asked if we had had enough , our team was not quite ready to quit and replied “BRING IT ON”

Now this time tacklers were intent on stopping him. One of our biggest players went in to make the tackle. It looked like a head on collision between a trash truck and a motorcycle, only the trash truck(our big kid) got run over by the motorcycle (PJ). Our team had now been run through, around and over. Not quite sure who was teaching who or what the lesson was, I sent the team on a lap and asked PJ to stay with me.

PJ was challenging both! I told him he had 2 things he needed to do, first pay a visit to the Deans Area for accountabilities for his glass throwing and 2^nd report to the rugby field the next day. PJ replied “whatever man” and that he wouldn’t be there because he “ran track”. The track coach was ecstatic at the thought of moving PJ to rugby as he often skipped practice and when he was present he was a major disruption to the team.

Now I wish I could say that somehow through the miracle of rugby and wonderful coaching that PJ made a miraculous turnaround that started the very next day. It didn’t turn out that way. In fact, over the next 3 years he was suspended from the team and school multiple times, he struggled academically, quit rugby after being confronted by his coaches and teammates and strayed dangerously close to becoming one of the 40% of African American males who drop out of high school in Washington DC.

Yet through all this, his mom, his coaches, teammates, teachers and classmates never gave up on him, even when it looked like he gave up on himself. The countless time and energy invested in PJ finaly began to shine through.

By the end of his senior year, PJ was not only the Captain of the Hyde Rugby team, he also had been named to the USA National U19 Rugby team and traveled to Durban, South Africa and Georgetown Guyana for the 2004 World Championships and World Qualifiers. He also had begun to translate that winning attitude towards the classroom. His grades steadily improved and he became one of the 100% of Hyde graduates accepted to 4 year universities.

PJ is just one of many success stories we have had as a result of Hyde's commitment to developing the character of the young students we work with. At Hyde, we deliberately use our athletic programs as a key venue for relating success in life to our students accepting responsibility for individual AND team performance, and for understanding that it is demanding preparation that lays the foundation for success.