If you are still thinking about that "made with real fruit" comment, maybe you can have a look for yourself. This year I have totally revamped the way I am teaching nutrition to my students. Yes, they are getting the necessary information about calories, vitamins, minerals and nutrition labels, but as I feel the need to make nutrition an even more applicable life skill. I am really excited about the amount of information my students are learning, and being the passionate person I am, I wanted to share my thoughts with all of you. To begin, I'd like to explain a little bit about my process and how I got here.

Teaching in China comes with it's own frustrations, so my goal for my students is to challenge them to take accountability for what they are putting into their bodies. At the beginning of the "nutrition unit," I challenge them to question what 'big named' companies are forcing them to read on the front of the everyday packaging of food they consume. Students see claims such as "all natural" and "made with real fruit," but don't think to look where it counts (eg., the back of the box on the nutrition and ingredients label). If you are still thinking about that "made with real fruit" comment, maybe you can have a look for yourself.  


I can give credit to the FDA for trying to regulate as much as they can, but when a cereal claims to be "lightly sweetened," our minds process it as "low sugar." However, that's not the case and my students needed a practical lesson in word smithing so they can understand how companies use these words to mislead consumers' thoughts about food sources. After a brief introduction, I turned them loose and challenged them to tell me about a nutritional "fact" they knew of and to find out if it was just that, a fact, or if it was a faux pas.

So here is what I am willing to share with you all: Although my students'  thoughts are still in the process of being developed, I opened up the question of "nutritional claims" to my students in grade 6, 8 and 10, and here is what they came up with. Feel free to have a look and if you'd like drop me a connection on Google Drive, we could collaborate to make the assignment even better! Thanks again for respecting their work and I'll talk with you soon!

Whether you are an athlete, a coach or a parent the week of “cuts” are always difficult. It adds stress to all of those involved; the athlete, the parent, the friend who made it, the friend who didn't but also the coach. 

Personally speaking, I work at a great international school, that performs pretty well at the tournaments we are involved in. Last year we had about 15 girls for our 7-a-side soccer team and some were unable to go to the final tournament which we have to cut down the traveling team to 12 members. This year Coach Homie and I were stoked to get 18 girls to come out to play some soccer. We practice twice a week, have a couple of games throughout the three month period which ends with a season culminating tournament. This year that tournament is held in Beijing and we again, can only take 12 girls.

Last year we took a solid ACAMIS team to Tsigdao and ended up taking 2nd in the tournament. Our skills may not have been up to par with the other team, but they played hard and I was proud of their effort! Although we lost 2-1 in the final to a pretty solid team, I was looking forward to this year and our ACAMIS team, because of their potential and drive to become a better team!

As I said this year has been a complete change from last year. Girls are committed, not only in practice, but outside as well. They have been keeping up with a running regiment that will get them in shape to run a 10km in under 1 hour TOGETHER, AS A TEAM this coming Monday. 

As I see them continue to progress in their skills, strategy and overall gameplay the hardest decision was approaching and I soon had to notify the team who would be going to ACAMIS to represent the Geckos and who would be hearing about how we did via text. As always there were some girls who have showed they were ready, committed and skilled enough to make an impact, but there were also A LOT this year that were on the bubble. For the last two spots on the ACAMIS team Coach Homie and I brought four different names into the conversation. 

The time came, we had too choose only two, but still the look in some of our girls eyes hurts my heart. They came to practice, committed to the team and put in an extra effort to "try-out" for the team only to fall short. As disappointed as those athletes may feel, as a coach, I only have appreciation and adoration for those young athletes that may not have made a team they were gunning for, and then go back to the gym for a workout, trudged back onto the field or court to shoot those extra shots, honing their skills so that next time they get the opportunity, they will increase their likely hood of making the squad.

This is just a shout out to those athletes that may have been cut, just to tell you that your coaches appreciate you, they see your effort and that won't go unnoticed. For those coaches that have to go through this process as well, this is a note expressing to you, it's tough so make sure you support not only those who have made the team but make sure you show your appreciation to all of those that have come to be on your team.