November 5, 2003
Teams build brain power
Odyssey of the Mind training session held for 60 area coaches
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Nurturing creativity and promoting problem solving are not as easy as they sound.
To get a boost in their skills, 60 area Odyssey of the Mind coaches gathered on Saturday for a training session at the TBA Conference Center. These veteran and novice coaches attended sessions geared to competition itself, delving into successful approaches for working on the long-term problem and in the spontaneous category. They also received tips on organizing their team, practice schedule and making sure they stayed up to date on problem information.
While the Region 3 Odyssey of the Mind competition is months away, coaches are now forming teams and establishing schedules that will carry them through to that event.
"Some people are really ready to get going," said Tina Allen, who organized the training event.
Odyssey of the Mind competitions are divided into divisions for children in grades first through 12th. Teams include between four and seven members and solve problems in one of five areas: vehicle, technical, structure, literature classics and acting. In addition, each team completes a spontaneous competition, whose nature is a highly guarded secret during competitions.
Volunteers, often parents of competitors, run the program. Teams form at schools or among friends, and one or more coaches guide them as they tackle a problem in the area of their choice. But it is the kids, first and last, who do the problem solving.
Teams meeting regularly over months to create an answer to their long-term problem. In addition, they usually take time each week to work on a variety of spontaneous games and challenges to hone skills for the spontaneous problem.
Jamie Wheelock, a long-time coach whose team attended world competitions, conducted a session on the importance of the spontaneous portion of the competition. Sometimes overlooked in favor of the more complex long-term problem, she reminded coaches that the spontaneous portion was very important.
"Your job as a coach is to get out of them the most creative responses you can," Wheelock said, noting that puzzles, word games, performance challenges, timed problem solving all contribute to the mental quickness and adaptability that help kids succeed.
"Spontaneous will make or break the team," Wheelock added. "We have gotten where we are nowadays in the world because of people who were creative and who could think outrageously."
"Spontaneous is like the icing, these are the kids you throw into a room like that scene in Apollo 13," she noted.
In addition to learning cooperation, creative thinking and perseverance, Odyssey kids must also learn one huge lesson: listening. Coaches must encourage team members to listen carefully and thoroughly to directions read by judges at the beginning of a spontaneous event, Wheelock emphasized.
She shared the story of a team she coached years ago that went to world competition. As the judge read the directions, her team acted precipitously before listening to all the directions. Because of this, they locked themselves into a space they could not get out of to complete their assigned task and earned just minuscule points.
"They had to stand there for five minutes and couldn't do anything," she said.
Diane Lundin has been an Odyssey of the Mind coach for four years. Coaching a team this year at West Junior High School, Lundin said the coach training session every year helps fire her up for the job.
"I have to go to these sessions because it gears me up for the season, so to speak," she said.
In addition to the speakers, Lundin finds ideas, tips and cautions from other coaches invaluable.
"It is a wonderful way to exchange ideas with other coaches on what has worked and what hasn't worked," said Lundin, whose seventh- grade daughter is on her team.
In addition to enjoying the process of coaching, Lundin has seen benefits in other areas of her life.
"It's been really helpful to me in my work," she said. "It really does make a difference because these are skills you can't practice enough."