What a difference a year makes!
On Tuesday, March 10, 2020, at 7:19 p.m. (11 days before the tournament), coaches received an email for those gearing up for the regional Destination Imagination competition March 21 at Monadnock Regional Junior-Senior High School.
In his email, Dan Whitney, regional DI director, wrote, “Let your teams know it IS a BIG DEAL to get to Regionals. Yes, it is a competition, and we are keeping score, but just as much if not more so, it is a Celebration of their Creativity and what they came up with ALL ON THEIR OWN. It won’t be the same without them and without you.”
The next day, 26 hours later, on March 11 at 9:46 p.m., we received an email that the NH-DI tournaments had been canceled. Craig Richardson, executive director of the New Hampshire Innovation and Creativity Connection, wrote, “New Hampshire Destination Imagination has decided to cancel our Amherst, Swanzey and state tournaments due to concerns about the COVID-19 /Coronavirus pandemic. We had all hoped that this would not be necessary, and we are heartbroken to have to disappoint the teams that have worked so hard over the past few months to create their Team Challenge solutions. Our top priority is the safety of our students and volunteers around the state. Destination Imagination has recommended that affiliates not hold any new public events, and we agree that this was the right decision. We are hopeful that we will be able to find some other way for teams to share their creativity, and let everyone celebrate their accomplishments. Please stay tuned, and don’t throw out your props, costumes and scenery just yet.”
The teams were absolutely stunned! Some regions had already competed the weekend before! We couldn’t! All the props, costumes, sets, scripts were left on the DI closet floor at Victory High School waiting for a DI kid to come back and bring them to competition. I figured it would be two to three months and we would start up again. Boy, was I wrong!
It took two years before the coaches went back and cleaned out that closet, because the following year, we had a virtual DI competition. Every team had to create and edit their own videos trying to solve one of the six challenges presented.
So, for the next DI season, on Monday, Aug. 10, 2020, at 11:45 a.m., we received another email — “NH-DI Team Managers and Coordinators! The ongoing pandemic has meant lots of changes, but in true DI fashion these challenges are being met. Here’s where we are now…
Destination Imagination is modifying the challenges for the 2020-2021 season to allow for safe, regular, remote interaction with peers, while continuing to offer fun and creativity. NH-DI is developing training for Team Managers to provide guidance in how to best manage remote team meetings, and to help you be sure your team has a successful DI season. We’re also working on training for team members (Dive In will be offered remotely!) and, of course, training for new Team Managers. Our Education and Training Committee has been working hard to gather the tools we’ll all need to do our best in the new world we are in.
Tournament season for 2020-2021 will look a bit different. Challenge solutions will be submitted digitally for our (remotely trained) appraisers to view. There will be fun celebrations of creativity – remote if necessary. Instant Challenge will be remote. And then there was Zoom meeting burnout!”
On Sunday, March 7, 2021, at 9:59 p.m., Ella Weinmann uploaded her CHS IC & Central challenge video for presentation. This is her summary of the virtual season — “Experiencing D.I. during COVID was kind of heartbreaking. This organization is something that I have been involved with since the fourth grade and it is entirely centered on community and teamwork. The competitions where hundreds of people all gather in one gymnasium and even just the regular meetings with my team just weren’t possible. What was an amazing day spent making new friends with the same interests as you and supporting your fellow teams turned into a stressful day spent on the computer with a 12 o’clock deadline. Despite the drastic changes caused by COVID, I will admit that D.I. still did what it does best; teach me new skills. I learned how to edit videos, change backgrounds, overlay sounds, and so much more that I would never have learned if it weren’t for the change in performance format.”
The teams had to create a second video for Instant Challenge with the same deadline and wait two weeks for results to be tallied. There were three challenges created; the coaches would purchase the materials needed and the kids would pick from A bag, B bag and C bag any three items to finish their own challenge. Where the heck do we buy paper drink umbrellas? Then, they had to videotape themselves solving the solution and showing the final product in a three3-minute video.
Did I mention they had to edit this also? Very stressful for a two-person team!
Team paperwork and the video were due by 11:59 p.m. Monday, March 15. I think CHS finished uploading and completing online forms four minutes before the deadline. Very stressful! The teams still received their “sticky notes” (virtual positive comments) for each team.
We received an email after competition — “Congratulations! We are so happy that your team qualified for Virtual Global Finals 2021! We know the team must be VERY excited! We need to know if the kids want to continue on to Globals. If not, we need to tell NHDI so they can let the third-place teams go to Globals.”
Guess what? My winning high school team did not want to go to Global Finals. This was another virtual competition. They would have had to create another video for Central Challenge, have a new deadline in the summer instead of the end of May competition (kids had plans already) and wait weeks for results to be tallied. All for the low price of $749, for virtual bragging rights. No traveling to meet other states and international kids, no pin-trading, no celebrations in a stadium, no camaraderie, no hoopla, etc.
I was so frustrated as a coach. But these kids were burnt. I couldn’t budge them. I thanked the coaches for their time and effort in this crazy scenario. My quote: “Thank you for staying positive and taking the time to coach your team. You are right that some towns didn’t do DI at all, but we did! My expectations are so high every year but I need to lower them for this year. I did not realize how fiercely competitive I am. We have had some amazing DI kids who got us there! It is an amazing experience to join in a winning team’s feelings! I am a part of something bigger. I am feeling mentally burnt also. We will rise again next season! 100% of our teams were asked to Globals.”
Is that even a competition? You realize then how few teams joined during the virtual year.
Jill Weinmann wrote: “I know you’re disappointed that the kids opted not to proceed to Globals; it’s a lot more than Zoom burnout. It’s been a rough year. Ella and Mikayla gave what they could in a year when most kids didn’t participate at all. They should feel proud to have made it this far.”
And these kids did all the work: brainstorming, creating, building, drawing, videoing, costuming, editing, uploading and burned out by Zoom meetings. I was just the coach watching the process (we do not interfere).
And this year, we had a low-contact tournament in Amherst March 13. Did I mention we had a snowstorm? But NHDI appraisers, volunteers and families rallied and we had a Sunday tournament!
DI will always prevail, no matter what nature throws at us. We are DI.
Anne Wentworth is the Destination Imagination district coordinator for Jaffrey-Rindge. She has been a JRDI coach for 10 years and JRDI district coordinator for two years.