Here’s a universal truth they don’t print in the Odyssey of the Mind handbook:Something will go wrong.Possibly everything. On competition day, glitter will fall off the set.A prop will snap in half like a breadstick.Someone will forget their line—or worse, forget their pants.A glue gun will rebel. The script will vanish. Someone will suddenly realize […]
If you’ve ever coached an Odyssey of the Mind team, you know the tension. You want to help. You see the answer, the shortcut, the perfect phrase, the stronger structure. And yet — you can’t touch it. You can’t say it. You can’t even raise an eyebrow in the wrong direction. Welcome to coaching without
A practical survival guide for the wide-eyed, slightly overwhelmed, brave soul who said “sure, I’ll coach” and then immediately wondered what they just signed up for. So, you volunteered to coach an Odyssey of the Mind team. Or maybe you were “voluntold” by your kid, your school, or the mysterious gravitational pull of glitter-covered chaos.
Coaching an Odyssey of the Mind team is a little like trying to direct a play, run a startup, and referee a glitter fight all at once. Now add in six or seven intensely imaginative, impulsive, distractible kids—some of whom may be neurodivergent—and it starts to feel more like herding cats on roller skates. But
If you’ve ever watched a group of Odyssey of the Mind kids get stuck on a line, freeze up during Spontaneous, or awkwardly deliver a brilliant idea like it’s a grocery list, you know the challenge. Creativity is abundant—but tapping into it quickly and expressively is the real trick. That’s where improv comes in. Improv
I competed in Odyssey of the Mind for nine years as a kid. It shaped my creative life, my love of problem-solving, and probably a good chunk of who I am. Now, more than ten years into coaching OM teams, I’ve had the joy (and sometimes chaos!) of seeing it all from the other side.
