Working as a public school teacher is- for many people -already a security of tenure. You don't have the fear of the risk of bankruptcy in contrast to some private employers that operate in just a few years but would eventually collapse due to a very slim return on investment. But, it does not- or probably, seldom happens in government agencies regardless of the income.
My Commitment Matters
Yet, my commitment as a coach or trainer in the Elementary Math Challenge, DaMath, and Sci-Dama would unexpectedly give me wonderful results in the future. But, I didn't dream of it but the reality was inevitable.
Brief History of the Game
Let me give you a short background of what those games are. Two Filipino board games patterned with the Board Game Dama which were later called DaMath and Sci-Damath are my features here.
With the use of the Four Fundamental Operations with the Mathematical symbols in every square that is not shaded, the players would capture the chips where there is space for them to land. The captured chip would become the multiplier, the subtrahend, the divisor, or an added. The chips that the players moved to capture another chip have numbers in them that will be added by, multiplied by, subtracted by, or divided by the number of the captured ones to give a score to the offensive player. For DaMath, the player who has a greater score wins.
On the other hand, another board game which is named Sci-Damaths- a combination of Science and Damaths also utilizes the board that has only two Mathematical symbols in it, the Plus and Minus signs. Here, the player that has the greater score loses. It promotes conservation, that's why the player with the greater score loses. He loses in the principle of conservation and savings. In other words, based on the principle here, one should minimize his expenses or any waste of income or resources in order to have savings for the more important use of it in the future. That's why, the player that has a bigger score loses because he-based on principle- extravagantly spends money. This is just a little overview of what those games are.
Additional Tasks
After the training on how to play those games, I was assigned as coach/trainer in different grade levels from Grades I-VI in addition to my own class advisory. It was very challenging and tiresome in the beginning but later it became a stress reliever seeing the progress the players achieved. But I also needed to sacrifice my time, efforts, and even resources. Fortunately, two of my division winners reached the regional level; and one of them won! He qualified for the National Level.
In front of me were both bigger opportunities and responsibilities for my player: How to win at the National Level With regular correct practice and with the active support of his parents, we intensified the commitment to do it daily and even extended the time for training and coaching.
The Moment
It was in the year 2000, when the National DaMath and Sci-Damaths Millennium Match was held in Gingoog City in Region X, Mindanao. The reason why it was held there, was because Region X was the National Champion in the previous year. So, there we were, with feelings of excitement, positivity, and of course, nervousness. The time of the contest had come. We were there with tensions in our hearts because all of the players were already winners in their respective regions.
We were in Region 7 and there were 16 regions in all during that time. I assured my player, my Grade Four pupil named Archie, that he had the potential to win because, after several days, weeks, and months of constant practice, nobody won against him already. One technique that I used was, every time he lost against me or anybody else, we used to repeat the moves until we discovered a counter-attack or defense that the succeeding games would be as easy as defeating a newbie no matter how experienced his opponents were.
Eventually, after the end of the seventh round, there was a tie between Archie and his opponent from Region IV. I prepared him for a possible match for the championship. But, after the analysis based on the rules of Win-over-the-other, Archie was declared the National Champion for Sci-Dama Level I! What a joy it was for our delegation from Region 7! And much more for my school!
To make the story shorter, that was it. We won because we were committed, dedicated, and positively aggressive. That's precisely one of the several reasons why I'm here in my position. I never dreamed of being promoted to this position. I was just contented with being a Teacher I. It's probably because I accepted my additional task as a coach or a trainer without expecting something in return. I just did it because I love to do it and I enjoyed it.
The Unexpected Reward
My promotion from Teacher I to Principal I was surprising. Imagine- five or maybe more steps or ranks have been passed over with this promotion. It was so stunning that I almost couldn't believe it.
But the lessons that I learned here are: We don't need to become a National Winner ourselves before we can produce one. A reward will be given even if you didn't expect it. But of course, I also had passed the Qualifying Exam for Principal during the time a Teacher I was included to take the test in the year 2006. That was twelve days after my wedding day which brought me another blessing.
The Recent Opportunity
With this opportunity to write what I have in mind this Hive platform is another amazing avenue for continuous learning and skills improvement. May we all succeed in our diligent endeavor here.