Since the time I was ten I have been playing volleyball. It became something I did almost year round having played for my school team and various club teams throughout as well as recreational leagues.
I helped coach the junior team at my high school in grade twelve and assisted with summer camps there following graduation. I even had the chance to play with a few schools in the States, but found myself heading in a different direction out of high school for a few different reasons. Eventually my life journey, which I didn't know at the time, would bring me here.
I was quite thrilled, when, a few weeks ago I was invited to Arcola for an event and have now found myself helping to coach two teams: the rookie girls and the junior boys. I'm excited about this because volleyball has been something I've done for over half my life at the moment; but, I'm especially excited because the youth are polite and eager to learn making coaching them a pleasure.
It's true I've only been coaching them for a few weeks, having had a couple practices and my boys have played against Carlyle last week as well as Wawota this week, but all of my players have been wonderful on both teams.
Originally when going into university I was hoping to become a teacher, mainly because I wanted to coach a volleyball team. I realized this probably wasn't the best reason to become a teacher and my plans eventually changed as many plans do in university. So, I am very thankful for this opportunity made possible by those in Arcola inviting me to help and those at The Observer allowing me to take the time off to coach at the school.
It's so much fun getting to know people and becoming involved in the community. It's sometimes hard to find ways to get involved, especially with a schedule that takes you all over at any time. I've been glad to go to church on Sunday's as well, but I often miss it for work. It's wonderful to see all of those friendly faces too. Slowly I'm getting to know more people and it's been great.
I think it's particularly fun to coach though because it's so exciting to watch someone get something they might not have done before. To make an overhand serve that had always been short or to have a perfect pass for the first time, they are all things that make me extremely happy to be involved with the program. I find myself already very proud of the youth who I've only known for a short amount of time.
I have realized, as I'm not the most vocal person anyway, that I will be rather quiet on the sidelines as a coach; but, I think the main point of playing at this age is to have fun and learn the basics. Getting a chance to play without the pressure to win, but an encouragement to focus on the technical aspects will hopefully lead to an overall successful team and a successful player.
I feel very blessed to have been welcomed into the community and allowed to continue being involved in something I absolutely love to do. Though I'm not playing competitively anymore it's wonderful to still be a part of it all.
There are a few odd things about coaching though. I'm 23 and it makes me feel a bit old as I'm being called Miss Running and am introduced to parents as, "This is my volleyball coach." But life goes on and at the same time as it makes me feel old, it's a lot of fun to take on new roles in life especially this one something I had always wanted to do.
I'm greatly looking forward to both seasons getting into full swing and to see the improvements of the youth over the next couple of months as they've already made great strides with only a couple of practices.
So, really, thank you to everyone for helping fulfill a goal of mine to coach volleyball one day. I hope I am able to teach the youth something new and to help them better themselves through the sport.
With that being said I should get back to my lesson planning for volleyball this week. It has almost been more stressful than my job as I lay awake attempting to think of the best possible way to explain the different skills. This week it included setting, which is quite technical and I take it very seriously as it was my position back in the day.
