Ever since third grade I attended the summer volleyball camp that the high school put on. I was hooked after that first summer. I went to the camps every year and played volleyball in sixth grade and also in junior high. I was one of two setters on our junior high team and we thought we were so awesome (though looking back on it we all know we were not as awesome as we thought). Sure we had hard practices and ran some, but it was not too intense. But, when I got to high school, it was a whole new game.
Practices for high school volleyball started in the summer, two weeks after school ended. Two days a week from 8-10 we had volleyball practice, and it was hard. Since it was summer it was a lot of conditioning, sprints, jump ropes, and running the mile. Conditioning is all we would do for two hours and we would be exhausted the rest of the day. Then, two weeks before school started, we attended two-a-days, for two straight weeks. Two-a-days suck. We went from 8-11, then had lunch as a team and went back to practice from 1-4. All of the time was spent as a team and the six hours at the gym were comprised of running sprints, agilities, and monotonous volleyball drills. As freshmen it was difficult for us to get in shape and understand what the coaches wanted from us. We tended to be slower and less skilled than all of the girls in the other grades, but we got through it. Some girls were pushed by their parents to do well in volleyball and to succeed, but I was self motivated.
My freshman year I played on the freshmen team as a setter, like I had done in junior high. When sophomore year rolled around and I was on Junior Varsity they already had a setter, so I was moved to become a back-row player. That thought scared me, I had never done that before, I had only ever practiced setting. But, I took it as a challenge and worked hard for it. I pushed myself to run faster and get a better time in sprints and the mile.
My sophomore and junior year I played JV as a back-row player, and junior year I was even the libero. I kept working hard because I wanted some varsity time as a junior, though we had six seniors and only six girls could be on the court at a time. I asked the Junior Varsity coach to stay after some practices to hit to me so I could work on digging the ball up, and whenever the hitters stayed after to work on hitting, I usually volunteered to stay and dig as well. The coaches must have seen my hard work and all of the effort I was putting in because I started to get to play in some of the varsity matches whenever someone else did poorly. Granted, I did not become a starter my junior year, but I was selected to be on the sectional roster. That year our team made it all the way to the state finals. I did not play often, but the coaches gave me a couple of chances to play. All of my extra time and effort in the gym paid off.
My senior year I worked even harder. My friend and I would hit the weight room at six in the morning two or three times a week to get better; we wanted the same success as last year. I would run on my own and pushed myself even harder in practices. I played varsity and we won sectional again.
There were a lot of tears and frustrations in my four years of volleyball, but I can truly say it was all worth it. I learned a lot about how hard I could push myself and how much I could grow as a person. I was self motivated and I took every opportunity I could to try and improve my skills. If I learned anything from my volleyball experience I learned this: though you may not always be the best, do your best, because someone is always watching and they will see your hard work and you will be rewarded for it.
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