A Whole New Sport
Sports had always been a part of life. I
constantly rotated through different sports when I was younger, trying to get a
feel for everything to discover what I truly enjoyed. I tried basketball for 3
years, gymnastics for 2, swim for 3 years, cheerleading for 1 year, dance for 1
year, and heck I even tried karate for a solid two lessons before quitting.
None of those were for me. Soccer and softball were for me. Softball had given
me decent reflexes and a good arm, well along with playing dodgeball literally
every day for a year during elementary school. I have been playing softball for
6 years but I think I’m done. Now soccer I have been playing for about 9 years. I
really enjoy it and soccer has given me mad leg strength, agility (kind of),
and again fast reflexes. However, I have never been to happy with the soccer
programs that our area has to offer.
I
started playing soccer for the park district in 1st grade and played
with them until 6th grade. I then moved to our local club team, IFC
and played with them until this fall. However, I was not impressed. Our team
was very bad, and no one took us seriously. I painfully decided that it was
time to move on. I made the decision to try volleyball at Uni instead.
Volleyball was like the one sport I had never tried, and it really showed.
Open
gyms were held all summer, but I was only able to come to a few due to my busy
schedule. Then real practice started. Immediately, the coach started barking
orders in this foreign volleyball language, causing me to scramble around like
a headless chicken and boy was it embarrassing. Even the younger newbies had
more of a clue than I did. Then came tryouts. Miraculously, I made it on
varsity which was probably mostly due to my height. With the title of varsity,
came a lot of expectations, most of which I couldn’t meet. Dropped balls,
missed serves, net violations, shanks, collisions, miscommunications all came
as a result of my inexperience. With every error came more and more anger. I
was angry that I had chosen a sport that I was bad at over soccer, I was angry
that I immediately wasn’t an all-star, and most of all I was angry that I was
letting my team down.
I
hated the feeling that I wasn’t helping the team. It made me feel like I was disappointing
them and I really wanted to quit. I felt I was the reason that we were losing.
Then something changed. Not immediately, but progressively. I started trying
harder at practice and fewer and fewer mistakes happened. When there
was a mistake, I self-reflected or asked my teammates what I could do to
prevent it from happening again. With fewer mistakes, my confidence in the sport
grew. Confidence seems to be the key to most things. Unfortunately, I don’t
have much but once I gained it in volleyball, huge mistakes became a rarity. Volleyball
became fun for me because I was no longer fretting over every small mistake. I’m
still not completely convinced volleyball was the right way to go, but I don’t
hate it anymore and I’m not completely awful at it.
Love how you began with listing all the sports you've played and continue to play. I also think its really cool that you stepped out of your comfort zone and tried something new! Also you definitely deserve to be on varsity!! You're so good!
ReplyDeleteIt's awesome that you found a new sport you like. I can relate to your experiences deeply because I have been playing Volleyball for years but quit in 9th grade because the season was very disappointing. I do agree that finding a sport you like and a supportive team boosts your confidence and helps you grow as a player.
ReplyDeleteSports are really great and it seems like you're great at them. Personally I've only played one sport for my entire life (soccer). It seem's like it would be fun to branch out and try things I've never done before but unfortunately I don't really have the courage for that and I feel that it's too late. Is there one sport in particular that appeals to you?
ReplyDeleteI think you're right, confidence is the key to most things. Unfortunately, I can't say this to myself without throwing up in my mouth a little. We need to find a way to rebrand self-confidence to make it less nauseating in theory. Maybe the creators of the juul can give us tips.
ReplyDeleteYou definitely should be on varsity, and I am so proud that you made it on your first year. From what I hear you are doing really well, especially it being your first year. I thought it was interesting when you said "most of all I was angry that I was letting my team down" because that is exactly how I feel when participating in team sports. It is less of the stress of the game but the stress you put on yourself. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteYou made varsity your first year! That's something. Like others have said, just the fact that you stepped outside your comfort zone was engaging enough to me. I loved reading about your fledgling first steps into volleyball. Every day is a step further, right?
ReplyDeleteWow Dani, this story of growth is very inspiring! I'm so glad you were able to come to a point where instead of being upset over your mistakes you were able to grow from them. I've struggled to do that in my own life, so I know its not easy, but good job! Your writing does a good job of introducing details about volleyball itself, as well as weaving in reflection about how you were changing as a person.
ReplyDeleteTrying a new sport so late in your high school career AND making varsity in your first year is something that takes a lot of confidence and determination. That's quite an impressive feat. Also considering that almost all Uni sports don't have the most inclusive and accepting teams, the fact that the vball team was so approachable is great to hear. Having caring teammates is rarer than it seems. Good luck in the rest of your season!
ReplyDeleteDani I think no matter what team or what sport you play on you add a lot in terms of spirit and skill. This blog post does a great job of showing what you have done and how you feel.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I'm super proud of how much you've improved in volleyball this season. Despite the fact that other people told you some negative comments, you still focused on yourself and you're one of the best players on the team even though it's your first year. You got it Dani!
ReplyDeleteThis is honestly one of the biggest reasons why I don't enjoy playing sports. Almost all of them are team games and I don't like the pressure of having to perform as part of a unit. The biggest problem is that the skill level often isn't the same across the team, so it's extremely frustrating to try and play down your own level because of someone else, but at the same time I can understand because when I meet someone better than me, I wouldn't want to let them down.
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