Baloo's Bugle

May 2008 Cub Scout Roundtable Issue

Volume 14, Issue 10
June 2008 Theme

Theme: Go For The Gold
Webelos: Traveler & Handyman
Tiger Cub Activities

THOUGHTFUL ITEMS FOR SCOUTERS

Thanks to Scouter Jim from Bountiful, Utah, who prepares this section of Baloo for us each month.  You can reach him at bobwhitejonz@juno.com or through the link to write Baloo on www.usscouts.org.   CD

Roundtable Prayers

CS Roundtable Planning Guide

We give thanks as we join in the Cub Scout Spirit with our friends and families.  Help us to do our best in all activities tonight and enjoy each other’s company. As we strive for excellence, please help us remember the rules of sportsmanship and fair play. Amen

The Summer Olympics will be held this August in Beijing, China. The Olympic spirit is one of friendship, fair play, honor, peace and glory. Men and women compete as they showcase their skill and determination. May our Cub Scouts show their Cub Scout spirit in friendship and fair play as they do their best this month. Amen.

Do Your Best

Scouter Jim, Bountiful Utah

The Cub Scout Motto is, “Do Your Best.”  Not only is “Do Your Best,” the Cub Scout Motto, it is also part of the Cub Scout Promise.  Why is “Do Your Best” so important to Cub Scouting that it is both the Motto and part of the Cub Scout Promise?  What does “Do Your Best” mean? 

“Do Your Best” means, that each boy does the very best he is able to do and tries as hard as he can with the abilities he has.  Every Cub Scout is different and so each boy’s Best is different.  In the Olympic Games they give Gold, Silver and Bronze metals.  Not every athlete gets a medal.  In Cub Scouting, we do not give medals for competition.  Each boy completes only with himself and his own Best.  Cub Scouting doesn’t have winners and losers, it has young men doing their Best.

The following is from a BSA Fact Sheet on Scouts with Disabilities:

 Since its founding in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America has had fully participating members with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities. James E. West, the first Chief Scout Executive, was a person with a disability. Although most of the BSA’s efforts have been directed at keeping such boys in the mainstream of Scouting, it has also recognized the special needs of those with severe disabilities.

In 1965, registration of over-age Scouts with mental disabilities became possible—a privilege now extended to many people with disabilities. Today, approximately 100,000 Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Venturers with disabilities are registered with the Boy Scouts of America in more than 4,000 units chartered to community organizations.

As a father of a special needs son and Cubmaster to two special needs Cub Scouts, I know the meaning of the word “inclusion.” Inclusion means that we include all the boys in our packs that qualify, and we get help to support them in the program if they need help.  Each boy should be allowed to achieve his very best. 

One of the Assistant Scoutmasters of my youth was asked to be the Scoutmaster for the Special Needs Troop in our area.  At his funeral, there were six Eagle Scouts from that troop serving as honorary pallbearers.  These young men had been allowed to do their best, and receive the reward and honor from that effort.  All boys deserve to be rewarded for doing their best but not with Gold, Silver and Bronze, but with Bobcat, Wolf, Bear, Webelos, and Arrow of Light.  (I know, Wolves and Bears have Gold and Silver Arrow points.) 

Remember as Scout Leaders, our job is to “Love Them!”  We love those best, we serve.  Anyone that has felt the love from their boys, will understand, that the rewards are far greater than the effort expended.  All leaders deserve to be loved by the boys they serve.  Go out and “Do Your Best,” and help all Cub Scouts, do their best.

Special Awards for Special Leaders

  • Woods Services Award. This annual award was established to recognize volunteers who have performed exceptional service and leadership in the field of Scouts with disabilities. Nomination forms are sent annually to councils every September with a December 31 deadline. One person is selected each spring for national recognition. (BSA Form 89-258L) 
  • Torch of Gold Certificate. This is for local council use in recognizing adults for outstanding service to youth with disabilities.

Read about both at http://www.scouting.org/Media/FactSheets/02-508.aspx

I am not sure how widespread the knowledge of these awards is.  Let m know if your Local Council knows about them or not.  Thanks.  CD


Quotations

Quotations contain the wisdom of the ages, and are a great source of inspiration for Cubmaster’s minutes, material for an advancement ceremony or an insightful addition to a Pack Meeting program cover

Every time you compete, try harder to improve on your last performance. Give nothing short of your very best effort.  Elgin Baylor

My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging. Hank Aaron

Sports do not build character. They reveal it.  Heywood Broun

Nobody roots for Goliath.  Wilt Chamberlain

I gave it my body and mind, but I have kept my soul.  Phil Jackson

Always keep an open mind and a compassionate heart.  Phil Jackson

Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength.  Phil Jackson

Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second.  William James

I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying. Michael Jordan

If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.  Michael Jordan

I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.  Michael Jordan

You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.  Michael Jordan

Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold.  Joseph Chilton Pearce

Throughout its history, the international Olympic Committee has struggled to spread its ideal of fraternity, friendship, peace and universal understanding.  Juan Antonio Samaranch

Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.  Bobby Unser

Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.  William A. Ward

There is something in the Olympics, indefinable, springing from the soul, that must be preserved.  Chris Brasher

It's perseverance that's the key. It's persevering for long enough to achieve your potential.  Lynn Davies

There are hurdles to overcome in sport and in life. Sport is a very valuable learning ground for how to live your life in the best possible way.  Lynn Davies

Only those who have patience to do simple things perfectly ever acquire the skill to do difficult things easily.  James J. Corbett

Friendships born on the field of athletic strife are the real gold of competition. Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust.  Jesse Owens

The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us - that's where it's at.  Jesse Owens

We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.  Jesse Owens

The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.  Pierre de Coubertin

It is the inspiration of the Olympic Games that drives people not only to compete but to improve, and to bring lasting spiritual and moral benefits to the athlete and inspiration to those lucky enough to witness the athletic dedication.  Herb Elliott

If you dream and you allow yourself to dream you can do anything. And that's what this Olympic medal represents.  Clara Hughes

What I can tell them is the way you become an Olympic champion is to start working now. I tell them why it's always worth it to put the time and effort into something you want to be good at.  Rafer Johnson

Sam Houston Area Council

“Play the game – don’t look on.” –
Lord Robert Baden-Powell

 “Doing what is right, fair and honorable is more important than winning or losing.”  – Chick Moorman 

“Winning is only half of it. Having fun winning is the other half.”“ -Bum Phillips

“If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.” –
William Edward Hickson

“Team player: One who unites others toward a shared destiny through sharing information and ideas, empowering others and developing trust.” – Dennis Kinlaw