Personal Narrative: My Freshmen Year Playing Volleyball

A timeless sport filled with -- rapid movements, sweat, anxiety, and team cheering -- volleyball is a sport that many underestimate. There are countless people that say “Volleyball is a girl sport” or “volleyball is not even that hard”. Also you may come across an egotistical varsity football team that refuse to attend any volleyball games, because they are mad that varsity volleyball made it to state championships and they did not. However, volleyball is a sport that requires intense drills, training, and a strong team bond. For instance if you do not dive right when hitting the floor you can seriously injure yourself. I have had torn a ligament in my shoulder diving for the ball, because as a volleyball player you are taught to always chase after a ball even if it means running into a wall. But the best and the greatest experience of all time is when it is a game day, or even better yet the last game that can determine your title in Norcal Championships. Norcal Championship finals is the game that all 14 teams strive for during the

While preparing for tryouts, I was expected to condition for two hours every day, playing and exercising vigorously. Once tryouts came along, I was in my best shape physically, but mentally, I still feared I wasn't good enough. Luckily, I was wrong to doubt myself because I made the team. All three teams spent hours practicing together, which made me nervous because most of the girls were more experienced. Even though I made more mistakes than the varsity players, they always encouraged me. Because of this, I became a better player and person. As the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu stated, “If you want to lead the people, you must learn how to follow them.” By allowing me to make mistakes without making me feel like a complete failure, the varsity players set a good example of leadership. Since they were understanding and did not assume an attitude of superiority, I was inspired to be humble and compassionate toward others. Honestly, I am glad I persevered through the tough times because it has taught me the necessary lessons to be a great role model. I hope I can motivate girls to not only play volleyball but to also express the importance of transferring the life lessons learned from the game to their everyday

The first day of practice was pretty hard because I didn’t know what to do. I was glad because we didn’t have try outs so I wouldn’t have to embarrassed about making the lowest team. I made a lot of new friends and they helped me out with moving around and memorizing a lot of the positions. Some of those friends are my best friends today such as Kali, Hope, Dani, Tina, Alice. I did not like memorizing things at all, and so it was a pain. By the middle of the season I was good, I loved volleyball and everything about it, because I had more time to play and I had something to do, I also liked hanging around with my friends at practice.

School seemed to be equivalent to finishing a marathon day in and day out until the dismissal bell that would allow me to return to the sanctuary of my own home. It wasn’t until March of my freshmen year that I decided I didn’t want school to be something I would have to endure but rather a memorable experience. I was done being a victim to the fears within my own mind and decided to join the softball team midseason. WIth newfound confidence, I worked my way to varsity level and worked with my team to become the first softball team in Southwest history to win two league championships consecutively. Even if we had not won any games, the fact that I was able to work and communicate with other people effectively was a milestone in itself

I was doing everything I could to make Rock Ridge’s volleyball team. I was working out almost every day, I went to every volleyball open gym, and I went to many clinics and camps. Making this team was very important to me, and I didn’t know what I would do if I didn’t. I’ve been working very hard to get a spot on the team. However, nothing could mentally prepare me for the three-day long try-out process.

This was my first volleyball camp at Michigan Tech University this summer and I was ready. Coaches sorted us into teams, taught us some intermediate skills revolving around the technique of the game, and scrimmaging from time to time. My team leader was Ali Gerring, a recent graduate from Kingsford. We did bump-set-spike drills and six different rotations to get ready for our big scrimmage the next day. You could see the sweat glistening on our faces, and smell the hard determination to improve. You could hear players call for the ball at every court yelling, “Mine, mine mine!”

This year, as a senior, I knew playing volleyball would come to an end. With the in mind, I knew my team and I had to leave a memorable mark with this year’s season. I strived for that “glorified” OVAC 2A title and a winning season. I worked hard in practice and in multiple games to make sure we got what we wanted. Unfortunately, my final year ended in a losing season and not making it to the OVAC playoffs. I was devastated and heartbroken. My team could not get along and work together when we faced tough teams. We fell to the challenge of being a team. Some of my teammates were selfish, some were quiet, and most tried to fix the problem, but could not. Through this hard time, I chose to focus on the positives. Frankl made me realize that dealing with this season was a part of life I could not change. I learned to make the best out of it. This quote will always relate to me as it makes me think of the sport I love. I made school history my freshman and junior year of high school by winning the OVAC title and playoffs. Also, being able to play a sport I loved for 6 years makes me smile. I have been a part of an organization that generations will come to know and remember. So, even though I could not make my senior year my best year, it made me cherish all the best memories I have of this sport. I will miss it more than I

At tryouts all I wanted was to be on that team. All I thought had to do to reach my next goal was work hard. I remember walking down that back stairwell, full of students, rushing to get to the clear front doors of the school, where the list that my goal depended on was surrounded by my teammates. I used my height to my advantage and peeked over the crowd. My anticipation was quickly crushed, though, by an all encompassing sadness of not making the core team, but secondary one. That sadness quickly morphed into an unbridled anger. I was angry at myself, my teammates, God, but especially my coach, who I would later find out made promises to parents from the past season that their children would be starters. I never let the anger show during that forgotten season, I made some good memories and grew closer to people I thought I couldn't, but that anger was bottled up and needed escape. I needed revenge and that came in the form of club volleyball. I made the top team, and grew exponentially as a player, even playing on an older team for nationals. I came back ready for that next school season. I walked into the air conditioned, orange lighted, smelly, old gym full of confidence. I could do anything and no one was going to stop me from reaching my goal. I did make the core team that year. My goal I’d wanted for a year was completed and yet left me feeling unsatisfied and wanting more. These memories block out many others I’ve made in a wonderful six year volleyball career. It has formed me into the volleyball player I am today and that unsatisfied feeling gave way one of my next goals now, to play volleyball for a collegiate program at a division one school. But the only way to get that dream, as I have learned so many times, is work hard, pursue what you want, and never let anyone decide your fate for you, because if they do, it won't fulfill the goals you have chosen for

When I first went for tryouts, I felt that since I had been playing volleyball since 7th grade, this would be no sweat. The tryouts were two hours for three days and I had tried my hardest every minute for those three days. Then I got cut. It was a horrible feeling, knowing that I would not be on the team that year and most likely any of the other years to follow. What would I do after school? Will people think of me differently? I quickly

Bare with me for another blog post about volleyball. This weekend was the Badger Region Volleyball Tournament, which my team participated in. When I walked into the building, the memories flooded in with scenes from the elevator adventures, cheese fries, and design your own sweatshirts. The first day, my team didn't play up our full potential, with my team only winning one out of three matches; which meant that we didn't place in any of the brackets, meaning zero chance of receiving a medal. However, at the end of the second match, I got switched from being middle all-around to libero ( a position where you only play back row on offense and defense). I guess it's an honor, but it puts a lot of pressure on me by labeling me as the best passer

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

I had such a passion for the sport and had never stopped loving it. Even though it took a lot of work to get back into shape and a lot of work to get back the techniques, I was happy to push myself. I decided to try out for the team at my community college sophomore year. I was genuinely terrified but I reminded myself that this type of opportunity was one that I could not take for granted. I made the team, but that was only half the battle. I wanted to be better than I was before. I wanted to prove that I could make a comeback and I needed to do it for myself. There were so many practices I felt like giving up and tried to justify it by the fact I had missed so many years and it was hopeless. The season had its ups and downs, but I had never been so proud of myself. I played great and I gave it my all. I learned a lot about myself as I played the game and also off the court with my teammates. I played college volleyball after three years of not being able to be on the court. I learned that I was resilient and there was nothing that I could not do as long as I worked for

Sophomore year came, and I was nervous because now there was jv dark and varsity to worry about. I came to tryouts, and gave all my effort on volleyball as well as my friends. They had made the teams, and I never expected to be in jv dark. My best friends didn 't made it to jv dark but I couldn 't miss this opportunity. In addition, I was depressed that I could not be with them, but I needed to be in a team that I knew it was going to help me become better. It surely did because now there was more tasks that I could do. My serves were something no one could receive. Consequently, the only horrible part of jv dark is that I never had the chance to play. I came to practice everyday and I followed instructions, I never complained if we ran, but the coach never showed me that I could be in the court. I did showed her, I tried to show off my abilities in volleyball for her to notice. As a result to that she always put me aside. In effect of this, it brought me down I

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.

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.