Day 4

Volleyball.

  For the last couple of weeks, I have been practicing with the girls volleyball team at my school. At first, I thought of it as a way to meet new people before the school year started, and I figured that that would probably be a smart idea. It turned out to be a very smart idea (I get a lot of those ;)

  During volleyball, I've met tons of cool people. Let's face it, it's sort of nice to see a few extra familiar faces in the halls while you walk around. It's also sort of comforting to know that if you forget lunch one day, you can find one of your sophomore pals and ask them to get you something from outside. One day, during a JV scrimmage, my darn nose was running like crazy and I ran out of my kleenex, so while we were on time-out I asked one of the varsity girls to run to the bathroom and get me a tissue. She didn't think twice about running out of the room and getting it for me. For some reason I think that's pretty cool.

  If there is one thing I have learned from my days on the volleyball team it is that when it comes down to how much power is being exerted by the players, the practices sometimes surpass the games. Practices are gruesome. Horribly, horribly gruesome. I could go on and on and on endlessly about how hard a practice is, but I think I can get my point across in just 21 words. Do a lunge with your knee no more than an inch from the ground and suspend it there for 20-30 seconds. Just do it. Please. Come on. Go ahead. It's good for you.

...Have you done it yet?

  No? What are you waiting for?

  Anyways, imagine doing that back to back, up and down a volleyball court 4 times. It hurts so badly that your knee starts feel like it's on fire, and just as you think you can do it anymore he tells you to take a step and switch legs. I've always considered myself a pretty fit girl, but I have never done anything like the exercises in volleyball. Specifically, after the lunges, one day I took a step onto the platform where the water was, and as I took my step off of the platform, my knees shook, and just as I was thinking "No, you are NOT going to fall in front of everyone!!" I did. I fell. One little step, and my entire body collapsed.

  That brings me to my concluding idea. There is only one thing that keeps me struggling during those gruesome practices. It's the team. With people constantly bellowing "Keep it up, Ladies!" and "You can do it, Ladies!" in your ear, it's not easy to forget that, indeed, you can do it. So you do, and you finish, and afterwords, you feel pretty proud of yourself and the team.

  Being a part of a team is something so completely different for me. It's not as though I've never been in a supportive environment, it's just that I've never been on a proper team, one that doesn't consist of gossipy tweens that don't want to be there. I have to admit that I'm not so great at volleyball, but even if I'm on the bench the whole time, I still feel like I'm a part of the team.

  I had a game today, and it was the first time that I ever scored. It wasn't amazing or anything, but some how my small little victory seemed to be mean much more to me because I got to share with 11 other people who were just as happy about it as I was.

  That was sappy, huh?

-D.F.T.B.A-
Mina;)