We've seen pressure performers before. In most cases though, there are 8 other, or 4 or pick your number, teammates on the field or floor, sharing a bit of the angst, ready to do their part to make the moment happen.
Not so when you are 13, facing the white hot lights and dour pronouncers at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
To me the Bee, conjures up comparison with golf as one of the rare pursuits where the person on the spot is alone with only his or her thoughts. No cheerleaders, teammates, coaches or handlers.
Kavya Shivashankar might have the eye of Tiger but she goes home with a trophy, not an oversized PGA check. Good for her. Better for us and other youngsters around the world, watching someone lionized for intellect, not an inside game.
It’s trite but still applicable: there are no losers among the 293 participants in the Washington, D.C. phase of the competition. And to think that that field is culled from tens of thousands of other spellers nationwide, is a source of not only pride to their communities, but hope for the nation's future.
To see kids celebrated for doing something so positive and in prime time for a fourth straight year, bodes well for not only the Bee, but our culture.
