ICON

I never in my wildest dreams thought that working with ITA would bring out the American Idol in me. Or more specifically ICON 11. ICON is a singing/dancing/artwork competition held by the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington DC that rewards finalists with awards and scholarships for school. Last week was the first round of selections (think the first couple of days of American Idol) where a team of judges began visiting the 17 clubs under BGCGW to select a handful of the best performers from each club to continue onto the following round. The next phase of ICON 11 takes place at the JW Marriott in downtown DC at the end of June, with the finale being held at the Kennedy Center in August.

Rob Price, a 16 year old at the BGC, approached me about helping him qualify for the second round of ICON. We have been working over the past few months when I am in town on making beats in the sound room, drawing from my piano lessons that ended when I was 16 and a few years of saxophone in middle school. Apparently he figured I was therefore qualified to help him with his vocal act. God has blessed me with many talents, but one of them is not singing. I couldn't sooner hit a note than start in the NBA (although my jump shot has improved exponentially from my time at the BGC), so to say I was shocked at this request would be an understatement. However, Rob was determined and I was honored that he asked me to help him with this goal.

Over the last week we went through various songs and figured out which ones played the best to his strengths and his style. We finally settled on "Back at One" by Brian McKnight, an R&B song from the late 90's. Rob sees himself as a smooth lady killer so he figured his best shot was with this song. Another club member, Pablo, joined Rob in entering ICON and they eventually decided on making the song a sort of a duet. 

We had a lot of painful takes during "studio" sessions, and I wouldn't be sad if I never heard that melody again. However, with a fair amount of practice and some applied focus on timing and hitting high notes (since I know what I'm talking about) Rob and Pablo put together a great song, as long as everything fell into place. 

On Thursday, the day of the competition Rob was very nervous, while Pablo was much more laid back. Since Rob had the solo lines it was on him to nail the bridge (song terminology, nbd) and remember to breath in the right spots. They performed in the library room of the BGC behind closed doors so I wasn't able to see how it went first-hand, but the smiles on their expressions when they exited told me that they had taken care of business. 

When all the acts had finished the judges explained how grateful they were for everyone's performance. There were definitely some tears since most people did not advance, but I was impressed by how they took the news. Of the four selected to continue on to the next round, both Rob and Pablo got spots. They. Were. Pumped. So was I. Going forward, Rob and Pablo should be getting more formal support for their upcoming performances so I am relieved that they will be in better hands. 

While ICON was ultimately rewarding for the kids involved, I had a great time as well. I was especially pleased as it allowed me an avenue, however unlikely, to contribute my experience of setting goals and working towards them directly with the kids. I don't know anything about singing, still don't, but I know about how to prepare for a competition. This is a testament to the way in which ITA is set up; that I was able to plug in immediately with kids using a relationship that was built on infrequent but repetitive previous encounters while in-season, followed by longer stints during the offseason. I am also humbled that the kids saw me as someone who could help them, whatever their logic was. It was a respect that I was initially unsure about when I began working as a winter sport athlete in an area that has few mountains, little snow, and zero coverage of ski racing. I see this a check in the positive column for my impact here in DC being worthwhile and consistent with the ethos of ITA. Whatever it was it was a good time.

Next stop, Marriott!