For those of you who may have been wondering just who that new girl on the volleyball team is, well I’ve accumulated such names as Curly Q, Goldilocks, and Ricky Bobby; however, everyone else calls me Henry. I transferred in as a junior from Community College. Thought it was tough as a freshman? Imagine going through it again two years later. Needless to say, it was intimidating… Again. During orientation, one of the OL’s said to our group, “Want to meet people? The solution is simple, get involved!” The first thought that crossed my mind was to contact the volleyball coach. After meeting with him over the summer, just missing spring ball, he told me two things, there was one spot on the team and ultimately, hard work and competitive touches would determine if I made the team or not. Good news: There was a chance, with one spot on the team open, bad news: I would be competing with three other girls fresh out of high school for the spot, even worse news: I haven’t played competitively for two years. Odds were not in my favor, but from the first day I stepped on the court me and an old friend in high school had a dream of being the next Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, (did I mention I was only 13 at the time). So the determination was there, however, a little rusty on the talent.
On the first day of pre-season all the returners hugged each other and caught up with their summers for those who didn’t share it together. Needless to say, stepping on the court, I felt no connection to any of the players and way out of my element to ever be trying out for a volleyball team, much less a college team. I had hardly any confidence but one of my favorite quotes kept sticking out in my mind, “If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes,” (St. Clement of Alexandra). So a long week of pre-season, the team took a trip to West Virginia to go white water rafting where I bonded with a lot of the girls for the first time. With the connection of two girls, came the connection of four girls, with four girls came eight, and with eight came all fourteen. With friendship came confidence, with confidence came motivation, and with motivation came strength, teamwork, and reliability for each other. A new sense of hope to where now I wasn’t completely intimidated by the other players, yes not only did the tall middle hitters scared me, but so did the petite defensive specialists and libero.
Here it is, almost two months later and I have a bond with the girls that I wouldn’t trade for the world. There have been times when I am happy and upbeat and the girls are right there with you having a good time, calling you cheesy, and other times that I have been upset and they were there to listen or just watch my cry and compliment how green my eyes were just to make me smile. I have girls that will compliment my hair as we walk passed each other in the quad, bed buddy, and get to practice early pepper buddies. Two years out of the game? Yeah it was tough, still is, but the girls, they make it all worthwhile!
