It is a few days before the next Science Olympiad Competition, and your coach tells you that you will be going into an event as a substitute. This may be an event for which you have never studied and you may feel overwhelmed and nervous. You will now be a supporting partner, and you can contribute to the success of your team in that event. As the supporting partner, you may help write down the answers or look up information in the binder while your partner analyzes the questions. As the supporting partner, you may use your general science knowledge to answer a few questions. Those few questions you answer correctly may be the difference between first and second place. Every point counts. View your role as a supporting partner as an opportunity to help your partner, to help your team, and to learn about a new area of science.
One time last year, my team was attending a new invitational competition. There was a conflict with one partner for Solar System, so I put in a 6th grader as a supporting partner with an experienced 9th grader. While the 6th grader wasn't very excited about his new role, he went in and tried to help where he could. After the event, the two partners talked about how the 6th grader caught an error in one question, based on his general science knowledge. During the award ceremony, our team won its first team trophy at an invitational. After we reviewed the results of the competition, we discovered that our team placed one point above the next team, and that one point came from winning the tie breaker in Solar System. That one point made the difference, all because a supporting partner paid attention during the event.
