Each of the past five years, our summer interns have challenged the admission deans to a competitive match of kickball. Each year the interns talk up the smack, believing whole-heartily that they will vanquish the powerful admission deans. Each year the interns manage to pick the hottest day of the summer for the kickball game to occur. And each year the interns leave the field defeated, with their confidence shattered.
I understand their cockiness leading up to the contest. After all, they are younger, fitter, supposedly more athletic than those of us who graduated college anywhere from 3 to ?? years ago. At their age, I would have assumed that a group of rising college seniors would dominate a group of admission professionals in the mid-to-late twenties, thirties, forties, etc. But not so. The interns took an early 1-0 lead. That lead, however, was soon erased, and the deans prevailed once again to a final score of 7-1.
Kickball, apparently, is a game that favors experience and guile. It's a game that, much like a fine wine, one gets better at with age. It may be played during elementary school recess on countless playgrounds across the country, but kickball is without question a game for adults. There will come a time when our young interns will be able to defeat the deans in kickball. It will be a proud day for all of them. But like many satisfying experiences in life, victory will require the interns to be patient, to mature, and to fully appreciate the magnitude of the experience.
Obviously, this reflection is highly sardonic. Yet, perhaps there is something to be learned from the experience. It's likely not a coincidence that the deans have prevailed over the interns for five straight years - and honestly, I don't think the reason can be attributed to us possessing any sort of superior athletic ability.
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