"Mike, are you up yet? It's 9: 15. Get up!" Now, this isn't something I usually wake up to, especially on a Saturday morning, fresh after a football game the night before. But somehow I had let my friend Jeff talk me into doing community service with him on that Saturday. We were going to help elementary school kids learn to bowl, and frankly, I wasn't interested.

Our school, Waterford High, became the first public school in Connecticut to institute mandatory community service to graduate. Starting with the class of 1997, 80 hours of approved service (20 a year) is needed. So that Saturday we arrived a little early so that Jeff's mother could set up the alley. Tensions were high as the kids started arriving. By age and level of maturity, we were assigned to the chidlren. I worked with a little girl named Christa for 14 weeks, teaching her to bowl. Most of the children ten and under learned to bowl, while those 11-13 bowled in the bantam league.

The bowling went through most of the school year and the same people were involved. After the first week, little Christa's smile was all I need to get up on those rough Saturday mornings. fl