The kids laugh.
“Get into groups of two or three and try kicking the ball at different angles. You can measure the angles with these.” I pull out a bucket of plastic protractors I borrowed from the math department and set it on the grass in front of me.
The students peer into the bucket with interest.
“Work on this for the next twenty minutes, and then each group needs to report back to me what you discovered.”
One boy near the front of the group raises his hand. I answer his question before he asks it. “Yes, Marshall, actually kicking the ball is a requirement for this assignment.” Marshall drops his hand with a scowl.
The kids break themselves into groups and start their investigations. I stay behind them, watching as they kick the ball, adjust the angle, and then try again. Some of the balls go way off course, and students chase after them. Many balls go into the net, and the group members high-five each other in celebration.
After the promised twenty minutes, I blow my whistle to call the students back to me. They drop their protractors into the bucket and call out the degrees of angles they found that worked.
Here’s a secret: I don’t care which angles they found that worked. They were running around, practicing soccer skills, andenjoying it, and that’s what matters to me.
My watch beeps to remind me it’s ten minutes before the bell rings to end the period. I dismiss the kids to change back into their school clothes.
“Coach Delaney,” a student named Camila calls as I walk with the class to the locker rooms. I turn toward her. “What happens if the player kicks the ball, so it arcs up, and it’s not rolling flat on top of the grass? Or when the goalie moves? How does that affect the angles?”
I stop walking and consider Camila’s questions. My body knows what to do to compensate for the varying angles while I’m shooting on goal, but I can’t say my brain knows how to explain it.
But maybe I don’t need to know the answers, I only need to empower my students to find the answers for themselves.
“What do you think?” I ask her.
Camila’s forehead crinkles, and she bites her top lip as she thinks. “In my physics intensive, we were learning about projectile motion, but that formula doesn’t take into effect air drag or spin. The Magnus Effect would certainly be in play with an object like a soccer ball.”
I raise my hand. “What’s the Magnus Effect?”
Still distracted by working through the problem in her head, she gives me a brief answer. “The lift force or curvature of the ball’s path.”
“Ah.” I grin. “In my world, we call that bending it like Beckham.”
I wasn’t sure she would even hear me with how intense her thoughts seem to be, but Camila stares at me, confusion written all over her face.
“David Beckham?” I ask. “Arguably one of the best and most handsome footballers to ever play?”
Her eyebrows pull together even more. “Football? I thought we were talking about soccer?”
I pat her shoulder. “Never mind. Tell me more about the calculations.”
She chatters about initial velocity and projection angle the rest of the way to the locker room. When we get inside, she bounds off, calling over her shoulder, “Thanks, Coach Delaney! I think I found my science fair project!”
I stop short.My class inspired her science fair project?
Brightline holds a school-wide science fair at the end of every academic year where students showcase projects they’ve built bit by bit throughout the whole year. Project plans are due before Thanksgiving break. With only a couple of months until that initial deadline, everyone’s been talking about their ideas. The Brightline science fair is a huge deal, and students take it very seriously.
I turn toward my office so I can text Gage, my heart as warm and full as a hot-air balloon. My feet skim across the floor as I float in and retrieve my phone from the desk drawer.
Olivia:
Today I’m feeling thrilled that a student got an idea for her science fair project from my class about angles in shooting soccer balls
Gage:
That’s amazing!! They are so lucky to have you as their teacher
Even though it’s via text, my face warms at his praise. And he’s right. I am kind of rocking this teacher thing.
