Determination

This past week we had a watermelon eating contest at the Boys and Girls Club.  Everyone was added into a drawing and were selected by age group to compete in the watermelon eating contest.  There were four different age groups, but unfortunately there was not a 20-30 age group so instead of participating I led the kids in cheering on each of their age groups. After the contestants were chosen they each were given close to a quarter of a watermelon to complete.  Once the whistle was blown and the contestants began to gobble up their watermelon the entire club was overwhelmed by cheers and screams by the audience.  The participants each had a different technique to try and complete the watermelon the quickest. 

In the end the older age groups came out as the winners.  The contest had been over for close to ten minutes when I looked in the corner and a little boy in the 6-8 age group was still working on his watermelon.  I watched as one of the teachers let the little boy know that the watermelon eating contest was done and that he didn’t have to finish the watermelon. He continued to press forward and was going to finish that watermelon no matter how long it took him to complete it.  After another ten minutes passed he finally finished the watermelon and held it proudly over his head!  He looked incredibly proud.  He had done it.  Sometimes it is not always about being in first place, but instead being determined enough to finish. 

getting ready to dive in!

The winners!