Volleyball



This year, I began my volleyball season with mixed feelings. Although my memories of volleyball were all favorable, I was not sure how dynamics on the team may have changed during my absence last year. However, when I began the year, I found the team to be much the same as I left it. Everyone loved the team and loved the coaches. Little did I know that many of the dynamics of the Telluride volleyball team that I had come to love would soon change drastically. Not only did this season teach me athletically, but also, my time engaging in this sport illustrated for me many important life lessons.

In the early weeks of the season, I thought I must have died and gone to volleyball heaven! I was sure that, nowhere else on this planet, was there another team like mine. Two of my team mates were my best friends and the head coach was also a good friend of mine. How, I asked myself, could this possibly be any better? Unfortunately, all of the girls, including the coaches, found that these few weeks of incredibly smooth sailing were coming to a close.

It all started in our practices. The coaches announced at the beginning of the year that this group of athletes had the most potential for going to state that they had seen in years and that the coaching staff expected us to be champions. Everyone on the team agreed that, if we had such great potential, then we should indeed try our hardest to accomplish our coaches’ expectations. However, along with these high expectations also came high responsibility. Our coaches expected no ball to hit the floor, ever. They expected us to hit the ground and bruise ourselves in the pursuit of every volleyball. We all worked our hardest and for awhile, the coaches’ pleasure with our performance increased. However, the coaches’ attitudes suddenly seemed to make a nose dive into the negative. It seemed that however hard we all tried, instead of being praised for what we did right, we were disciplined for what we did wrong. Suddenly, nothing we did was good enough to satisfy the coaches. With this change, also came a drastic change in the attitudes of all of my team mates. Volleyball just was not fun like it used to be and none of us seemed to be good enough for our coaches anymore. What reason did we have to be in the gym working our hardest for nothing? Many of us began to wonder. I found that my excited feelings for the season began to wane and rebellious feelings against the coaches began taking their place.

I began to agree with the rest of my team in thinking that this group of girls was not meant to play volleyball. If our coaches acted like we weren’t good enough, that must be true. However, soon after making this resolution, I began to wonder what happened to me. I knew that I was a great volleyball player and that I had more passion for this sport then any other. Why was I acting like I didn’t know what a volleyball was? The very same night I came to that realization, I promised myself that I would gain the approval of my coaches again and if that proved to be impossible, I would walk off the court at the end of the season knowing that I tried my very best.

Gradually, my skills began to climb out of the hole I had dug them into. I noticed that my volleyball self esteem began to increase with them. Once again, I was positive that I was really good at volleyball. As I received more and more playtime on the team I saw the results of my hard work take effect. Also, I began to wonder what would happen if I applied the same determination to everything I struggled in. What if I promised myself that I would and could succeed at math? Or what if I pushed the extra distance it took to follow through with all of my promised tasks? I began to wonder what it would be like to get play time in the varsity game of life and I wanted to try it out.

At many times during this season I convinced myself that I was a quitter and could not follow through with my commitment to volleyball. Where would I be if I had given up on those few tough weeks? I suppose thinking about what could have been never gets you anywhere. Although I am still working for my position, I believe that I am on the right path to a varsity spot on life’s team. This season taught me that I am definitely not a quitter and that anything is possible if I just believe in my abilities. This season also taught me to look deeper in every day situations for inspiration. The inspiration I found from the sport I love will stay with me forever.