Ages 8-16 · Book 3, Confidence · 4,299 places

Trying Out for a Team

Including the version nobody prepares a child for, where the answer is no and it arrives in public.

Built on Ellis Abel and the Magic Triangle — “Turn fear into confidence, one step at a time.” A character series, not a curriculum with a worldview attached.

The five sessions

Session 1
Read the story and find the wall the child is standing under
Session 2
Commit out loud, before anybody feels ready — that is step one
Session 3
Do the reps, count them, and expect them to be ugly
Session 4
Name what got better, using the count and not a feeling
Session 5
Confidence is the last step, and it is earned in front of them

Questions leaders ask

Is trying out for a team in your area a religious program?

No. Ellis Abel is a character series. Each volume carries one named core value — this one is confidence — and the story does the teaching. There is no doctrine in it, nothing to opt out of, and it is used in public schools, libraries and secular programs as readily as anywhere else.

What ages does this work for?

Ages 8-16. The story is read aloud, so a child who cannot read yet is fully in it, and the discussion prompts are written in two bands so one adult can hold a mixed-age room.

We have tried things like this in your area before and stopped. Why is this different?

Because it is ten minutes and it survives a missed night. There is no streak to break and nothing to catch up on — you pick up at the next chapter.

What if my child will not talk about it?

Then read it anyway and say nothing. Children answer days later, in the car, about something else entirely. The prompts are there when they are ready, not a toll you have to pay to finish the book.

The rules that make it work

Confidence is earned, in that order, every time

Commitment, then competency, then confidence. Almost every adult teaches it backwards by trying to install the feeling first, and children can tell.

Ugly reps are the work, not a warning sign

A child promised that practice feels good quits on the third attempt. Say in advance that it will look bad, and the bad-looking part stops meaning anything.