Contest Madness

Okay, so it's over. I am sitting here wondering if I take this too seriously and if I should worry so much, but here goes.

My student won. He got first prize and will go to the Yamaguchi finals to fight for a chance to go to the nationals in Tokyo. My JTE is happy, my school is happy and I will probably get congratulations from the kocho again.

However - the girl who cried last year cried again this year. She was overlooked by the judges. Her speech was not perfect but she pulled off a particularly good performance and had mastered lots of difficult bits. Her improvement overall was fantastic and I was sure she had won, let alone got into the top three. She didn't. I tried to comfort her but I was gutted. What could I say.

I was announcing and prompting during the speeches and the final girl just completely blanked out. We struggled through a couple of paragraphs. I thought someone would tell her to say 'Thank You' and leave the stage as she was way over time, but nothing happened. She stood there like a possum in headlights and eventually started crying and slid to a crouch behind the podium. No-one was doing anything. None of the JTE's were moving. I was like, what the hell is going on? So I went up on the stage and got her up and took her to her seat. Not the best ending but there you go. That is life.

So, I am going to try tonight to focus on the Hagi Nishi win rather than the fact that one of my students is probably thinking - why should I try anymore?