When People Tell You That You Broke

One of the greatest features of the name tag is, of course, the schedule on the back. One of the greatest features of said schedule is the part telling you when breaks are. Which is obviously the most important part. Sure, some may argue that the most important thing a competitor would need to know about is the actual competition part... but breaks are pretty important too.

There are many parts of breaks that make it awesome: when you don't expect to break but you do, when your friends break, when people break at their first tournament, when you're in finals and so are a bunch of cool kids, when you're in finals in more than one thing, when you break in all of your events... anyway, breaks are great. In fact, any form of breaking is great. But if there could possibly be anything better than actually finding out you broke, it is when other people come and talk to you about it.

I don't know if the well-meaning people genuinely don't realize that you were also present at breaks when they run up to you and shout, "[Your name]! You broke!" but there are several good responses you could follow comments like that with. One is "Wait, really?" This is especially effective if you actually didn't know that, or if you're an interper and are good at pretending. Another good response is, "I KNOW, RIGHT?!?"which is just fun to say, especially in all caps. A third is,  "... you think I don't know that?" but don't say that or you'll just sound like a jerk.

Other times, your friend might be running up to congratulate and/or awkwardly hug you and express their elation at the fact that you broke, and that's really super fun too. After all, what's the fun of breaking if you have no friends or even acquaintances who make you feel special all over again once the actual breaks are said and done? It's significantly less fun. We need our friends. They just reinforce the excitement, among other things.

You're homeschooled. Break a leg.