Who Knew Volleyball Was So Quiet (and Gut-Wrenching)?

Bebe has taken on a new sport this fall...Volleyball.

She expressed interest in it last spring and so we signed up for a 3 day volleyball skills camp this summer to give her a taste of the game.  SHE LOVED IT!  Sooo, it was an easy decision for her to join her school league this fall.  Giving up fall soccer wasn't easy, but with horseback riding and volleyball...we just can't do it all!

Anywho...to make a short story long...

let me start by giving you a little bit of background on my experience with volleyball.  I never played volleyball because it's season fell at the same time as tennis, so duh...volleyball was not happening for me.
However, on the few days it rained out our tennis practice or games we would go watch our classmates practice volleyball or play games.  It was always loud and whatnot in the gym (one - the coach was a psycho-screamer & two - there were lots of onlookers cheering players on, clapping, players talking to each other, and so forth).  The only other experience I had was in college.  As one of my 2 required PE classes I took volleyball.  The other jogging.  Yea, life's rough, huh?  Anyway, the class was taught by an ex-college player and she meant business.  I had fun, I learned a bit, and people were always talking and cheering on others loudly.  I can be a very competitive person, so I was eager to learn and be one of the best "short kids" in the class.  I despised it when someone could block better just because they were taller and merely had to raise their arms.  Or someone could spike it with more precision because they were 2 feet taller and had less area to cover.  Bygones...

Point being...my competitiveness is tough to keep in check when my kids play...it's gut-wrenching sometimes.  I mean I'm not one of those screaming out, "Get your ass off the ground son...it's only a broken arm...you can still play soccer...you only need your feet!"  And I don't throw my purse down in anger or cuss out another parent because her son elbowed my little girl in a basketball game.  I keep all of my grumblings to myself or my poor husband hears them all later.  The tough part is wanting them to play each part of the game successfully, feel successful, and win games...thus being successful overall.  Some days it happens, others not.  Seriously, I really just want them to have fun!  I always ask them, win or lose, "Well, did you have fun?!"  We don't make a big deal out of a win...nor do we make a big deal out of a loss.  They're elementary age kids for goodness sake!  I love sports...it's great exercise, builds friendships, allows them successes (building confidence), and to know failure and how to deal with it.

The funny thing is during Bebe's volleyball games...it is dead silence.  No one speaks between serves.  No one cheers after a point.  Maybe a little golf clap here and there.  It's insane. It's sooo quiet I can barely stand it!  After careful thought and soul-searching...I'm learning to live with who I am and be the only voice in the gym.  I yell out encouraging things like, "Get ready girls!  You can do it!",  "Good serve!", "Nice try girls!"  You know...good things.  But I'm like the only one!  It's like playing in a library.  It's crazy, folks!  But I'm gonna keep doing it because Bebe says I can!
And the competitive part of me wants them to be encouraged to win.  I don't care what anyone says... winning is still fun.  Be it chess, swimming, tic-tac-toe, thumb wrestling, college football, professional cricket...tell me winning isn't fun?!  I know, I know...handling winning or losing appropriately is paramount and I'm all over that.  However, my good friend just giggled and hooted over me yelling during the volleyball game.  She laughed and said I was hilarious and too much.  And while she meant it good-naturedly, and we're still friends, I don't think I am too much!  I think I'm supportive and right on the money.  I cheer, I don't jeer, if you will.  Okay, I think you get my point.

Moving on...
the even more gut-wrenching part is watching these 3rd & 4th graders play.  It is excruciating to watch a child stand there in absolute silence for 3 minutes preparing to serve a volleyball and then it fly all of 5 feet with no hopes of making it over the net.  I mean I don't even know the kid...she's not even on our team...and I'm sitting there twisting my neck and back willing the ball to go over for the poor child like a golfer willing in a errant putt to go in the hole!  Then if, Heaven help us, the ball goes over on a serve you are dying to see the opposing player try to return it.  The ball gets bumped behind them, into the net, 40 feet into the air, or far far far too often stared at as it hits the floor completely untouched.  The ball leaves two girls looking at the ball and then each other and then the coach, questioning with their eyes, "Who was supposed to get that?"  When your team is up it's tolerable, but when your child's team is down...it is painful to watch them miss ball after ball.  It's heartbreaking, it's hilarious, it's very nearly indescribable as I'm sure I've not done it justice with my hurried writing.

So, if you are available...you're welcome to come to my kids' soccer and volleyball games this weekend.  It's a real hoot.  And apparently, if you're not interested in the games you can just laugh at me!  Or bring a book...it's quiet enough to get some reading done.