Technolandy

Day 102 (of 2025/26) Sports and Education in 2026…

I’m a fan of the Winter Olympics… I’ve always enjoyed having them on in the classroom, or in the school as a bit of white noise in the learning environment. It’s two weeks of exploring sports and events that sometimes only get attention once every four years… I love watching the Scotties Tournament of Heart and the Tim Hortons Brier for curling, but mixed doubles? Once every 1400-ish days!

But what it shows students, is there is always options for you when you follow your passion – whether it is much like the crowd on skis or a snowboard, or a bit less common like a luge or a skeleton… 

Likewise, the Super Bowl just happened – and many know how big of a Seahawks fan I am, so there is always fun reminder that the joy of victory needs to be tempered with a reminder, that there is ‘one’ winner and many ‘losers’ – and the closer you get to the top prize, the harder the metaphorical fall. It’s why I have a couple of considerations:

• When winning and losing are serious, it needs to be a choice
• When everyone ‘has’ to play, everyone ought to be congratulated (yes, ribbons for all if they are being given out) as they (may) have accomplished a ‘personal best’. 
• Coaching matters… it takes trust and blends skill, communication, practice, and a team mindset… with many different philosophies that work in different ways. 
• Seahawks leadership (foxes and hedgehogs) https://apple.news/A62Gb7baZSvC8sZaTto11YQ

And with one sport season over, and two others: NHL – don’t ask me about the Canucks this year; and NBA – wake me up when the Sonics or Grizzlies are back in the pacific north/south west (depending on your nationhood…) 

We like these teams and sports because they bring forth community… and commonality… and passion – but not universal… I have many staff who appreciate my own passion for some of the teams even though they do not fully understand (or appreciate) the intricacies of the sport. 

Then there are different intricacies – Bill Simmons wrote an entire treatise about sports fandom – essentially root for the team where you grew up (rural communities have some flexibility) and whatever team you choose, you stick with – barring some exceptions (if the team moves; if the owners are foolhardy….) sigh… I miss ESPN’s “Page 2”. https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/020227

So, must you only root for your home country in the Olympics? Can you cheer for nations for which you have familial ties? Can you root for some individuals? Can you go by the best looking uniforms? Is it about winning the gold? About setting a personal best? About … participating? 

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This leads me to some thinking about school sports – the culture (with pros and cons) that this supports and enables – building community… building extended family… sometimes excluding and alienating… it’s not all raising banners and having parades, though those are nice… 

For this next fortnight – I will be celebrating a Super Bowl win by ‘my team’; celebrating and sighing with the results of Team Canada; and getting ready for the start of what’s next… baseball and the Mariners…. NOT the Blue Jays…. Cuz #westcoastbias – Seattle is closer to BC… I do have family in/from Seattle… and sometimes it’s good to be a contrarian – but I encourage all those Seahawks Fans to swap neon green to Pacific Northwest green and embrace the next Seattle championship at the World Series to start the 2026/27 school year! 

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I’m also aware, to some sports is a weird distraction. Share the passions you like to follow as a fan!