Weekend Blog Assignment: Spellbound

Neil is constantly practicing words even right before the competition. I think he uses the practicing to distract himself from the anxiety of the competition and to give himself confidence that with all of the words he knows he does not have to worry about getting something unexpected or missing something. Ashley, on the other hand, does not deal with the pressure well. The first time she goes up to the pedestal for a word she froze. To get through these stress she said she prayed to God before the spelling bee and seemed to be driven by a desire to represent herself well. When she froze on the first word, she broke through the fears and answered it correctly, so although she did not begin the competition dealing with the stress well, she was able to degrade her fears through her drive.