Personal Narrative: How Volleyball Changed My Life

In my first beginning days of highschool, I became interested in playing soccer for my first time ever. I’ve had no prior experience with playing soccer, only that many of my friends and my idealistic brother also played, so this was a major part in my beginning.I began training as rigorously as could have imagined. When the time came when my highschool team announced tryouts for the school I knew I couldn't resist. Many other players that I knew suggested that I didn't tryout for the sake of my dignity, but of course I shrugged them off , excited to prove them wrong.When tryouts came,I pushed the hardest I can. I sprinted the fastest I could,I ran the longest I could, and I put everything I had in me right on the field. I didn't want to leave with any regrets or doubts those few days. It was finally time when the team's roster was announced and possibly the worst day of my life when I saw that I didn't make it on the team. I ran home after school that day,slammed my door shut,and compltely confined myself in my prison, crying in my darkness,alone. I fell into a state of depression and overwhelming of hatred for myself that was impossible for me to escape from. I worked three times harderthan everybody else just so I could get close to the level that they already were. I felt the need to quit and hang up my cleats before my friend came up to me. He said to me that I surprised him how much more I improved and that I should have made the team since I was better than some of the others. He told me not to give up but to continue to strive to improve myself because at this rate I will exceed to impress everyone that doubted me and to show myself that I can accomplish my dream. I was in a really low place for myself that I felt that I thought I should throw away my hard work and accept my failure, although with the help of the single light

The whole team and I had practice every day in the afternoon, and I was excited to learn and play every day. Time to time I was seeing some results like: I could serve, bump, and hit. I was thrilled to play, and obviously be around with my friends. It was the moment I got super into volleyball, that I couldn 't wait to touch a ball. Everyone told me that I improved so much, and that I should never quit.

Even though, I did not enjoy living in Missouri and being away from my the only life I knew in Indiana, I still tried my best to play my hardest at all times because volleyball is what I love. I have a small, but very close family. My mom, Angela, and Grandma Susie are my best friends. Ever since I was born, I would always cry when someone besides my grandma or mom held me. If they handed me

Middle school is a time when kids attempt to figure out how they fit in, and that is exactly what I was looking to do when I started playing volleyball. I was in seventh grade when I decided to try out, and it was only because my best friend was playing. Little did I know just how organized and complex the game was; I just assumed volleyball was a more intense version of “don’t let the balloon touch the ground.” I never thought that I would become so passionate about this sport that it would have an impact on my character.

Everyone knows that there is always a risk to playing a sport. You put so much hard work and effort in to maybe make the team. From eighth grade to the end of the first semester of my junior year, all of my time was devoted to volleyball. Basically any free time I had I was at private lessons or a skills camp. I put so many hours into this sport that I forgot about other things in my life that are important. Up until the club season of my junior year, I have never been cut from a team and I felt confident that I would not ever because I have already made it that far, but all it takes is one bad night to throw all your hard work away. The night of club season tryouts for 2014 I simply could not focus and was overall out of it. I got cut and to say I was devastated is an

I have known it for fifteen years. For fifteen years I have lived, breathed, and marveled at it. I am only eighteen years old meaning it has taken up almost all of my life. I know nothing else but this, and it is soccer. Soccer has been my lifestyle ever since I was able to walk and it has been what keeps me going and keeps me motivated in life. Soccer has made me who I am today and has taught me almost everything I have ever needed to know.

I was told that on the day of my birth, the operating room was overcrowded with medical staff, bright

It was 9 a.m. and my mom barged into my room. She turned on my light and told me to get ready. The light hit my face forcing me to wake up. I could hear my mom and dad packing and loading our luggage into our truck. Today’s the day, I thought, Today was my last softball tournament for at least 4 months. I got that same feeling that I get when you go down the first arch on a roller coaster in my stomach. This happens every time I have a tournament or game. My stomach flips and I get butterflies in my stomach. I get nervous to make a mistake, make everyone mad, and frustrate everyone, especially my family. My anxiety consumes me and I get so nervous when the ball comes to me that my heart starts racing. I don’t want to be the one to let everyone down. But I’ve been getting better at not being scared. I’ve been trying to believe in myself more and have been overcoming my fear. I put my thoughts aside and got up, brushed my teeth, put my contacts on, washed my face, and got my uniform on. I brushed my my hair, put it in a ponytail and got some gel to slick back my hair. The gel felt like slime as I slicked it back on my hair, and I put my bow on. I went to my room to get my sweatband and was debating on what color I should wear to match my uniform. I decided to bring both of my headbands and decide which one I should wear today on the ride over to the ballpark. I got my bag that I had packed yesterday, double checked that I had everything I

After waiting three weeks, I was finally cleared to play basketball again only to suffer another one. I was out after receiving an elbow to the head in a previous game giving me my first concussion. Walking onto the court at Eden Valley High School, I could feel the nerves rush through my veins. The whistle blew and the game started. I was going up to grab a pass when an opponent ran into me. Black. In those moments I was unconscious, I could only remember colliding with my opponent. I woke up in a car, my head aching as I sat up and saw bright beams of light off the street lights. The light stung my eyes and made me feel like the world was spinning a million miles per hour. “Stay awake sweetie we are almost home,” whispered my mom. Every heartbeat thumped in my head like a bass with the music to loud. I was so discombobulated and hurt I just laid there in the back seat

In the 6th grade, the sports at the school increased to softball, baseball, track, volleyball, basketball and soccer. This what the time when us as students had to decide what we wanted to play. I debated doing track because everyone else was doing it, but I was not good at running. Because of this I decided that I would stick with softball. When the season came around I was shocked when my whole softball team of 7 years had quit on me. They had all left to join track. This was hard for me because the sign up for all sports were over and there was not enough for a team. Being shy, and not outgoing around the kids I went to school with I didn't know what I was going to do. I decided one day and asked my mom if I could join a kid-sports team from another

Volleyball has been a large part of my life the past five years as I've played on Greenwood High School's Team. My transition from elementary school to middle involved joining the high school volleyball team, along with two other to-be seventh graders. These past few years have been marked with both struggle and triumph as we experienced three different coaches as the original coach stepped down. This left us with only 14 girls to play with one year, when an average volleyball team plays with 30 girls. We struggled as a team that year but we also came closer together through shared experience, which enabled us to work together even better as a team the year after under the tutelage of our third coach. My ninth grade year I participated very heavily on the team as I played both Freshman and

Right away, I just clicked with some of the other girls. Their names were Jenna and Avery. Both of them go to Weddington, they played volleyball for their school, and to my knowledge they were very intelligent at their school work. Throughout the practice, I got to talk to some of the other girls, and talking to a lot of people that I’m unfamiliar with is out of my comfort zone. Over the next practices I became really close friends, especially with Avery. It wasn’t long before our first game, and not only did I have new friends, and was starting, but I was the caption over my team at peak. I went from not being good enough, to trying something new, to being one of the best people on my team. I not only gained more volleyball skills, but communication skills as well. This experience really taught me how to be a

In conclusion, I’ve learned that being nervous and overthinking things defeats the purpose of doing those things. I play volleyball to have fun playing volleyball, not to stress and worry. I also realized that this girl I didn’t like very much had a reason for saying that to me. She didn’t get to play that much and here was a freshmen going in. I didn’t realize this until much later because I was too busy licking my wounds to see hers. She didn’t need to say that and I didn’t need to let it bother me so much.

I first started playing volleyball at a very young age. I was in the seventh grade when my volleyball career started. My sister started playing in the seventh grade and I just wanted to follow her footsteps. My seventh grade year was ok because I had just started out and really didn’t know the game. There was A team and a B team, where A team was better than the B team. I tried my best to be on the A-team, but guess where I ended up, on the B team.

Playing on the varsity volleyball team is an adrenaline rush like no other. To be able to play the sport you love with teammates that are like family, in front of a crowd of actual family members is the ultimate feeling. Playing is even better when you, a small town nobody, beat a ranked team in the first set. We had just beaten Humboldt 25-17 and I was on top of the world. We were playing like our lives depended on it and I couldn’t be more proud of the girls.