Trying a new sport is tough. Unless you were one of the lucky few who started playing volleyball really young in recreation leagues, you may not have had the chance until you hit middle school. Trying a new sport in middle school is challenging because it’s the time of immense changes, body and mind, and being embarrassed is the worst. When I had the opportunity, my K-8 school allowed the youngest to be in seventh grade to play. I didn’t even bring clothes to try out that day. I remember my teachers having me call home for workout clothes just because they didn’t have many sign up for tryouts and I already played for other sports at the school. There weren’t many signed up because embarrassing ourselves was a fate worse than death in middle school.
Well, I think about that day often now. I’m so thankful for my teachers pushing me to at least try volleyball because I fell in love with it and never looked back after that. I played the rest of my middle school career, all four years in high school, and did travel ball. I even had the opportunity to play in college, but shied away from the opportunity because my anxiety was too worried about falling behind in school. I did play some recreationally and for a bit on a club school team. Any chance to be on the court or play sand, I was down for it. I loved to pepper with friends, and even taught my husband how to play.
Once I graduated college, I was given a chance at a new position in volleyball: coaching. This will be my fifth season coaching high school volleyball now, and I just can’t seem to pull myself away. Last year was my first year as head coach, and with the baby coming at the end of this season, I had to step down and ask one of my best friends to take back over as head coach. Together we have coached five seasons together along with her sister and my husband’s help too. This year has been bittersweet with both her sister and my husband not being able to join the coaching staff, but I’ve enjoyed getting to help out MacKenzie as much as possible. I’ve had to miss a few practices here and there due to my pregnancy, but I’ve really tried to be there as much as I can because volleyball and coaching is just something I love to do.
The past five years I’ve seen 11 seniors graduate from the court, and in just a couple weeks, we’ll say goodbye to four more at our small private Christian school. I’ll still see them around at the school until they officially graduate, but their volleyball season is coming to an end in October. While I’ve loved all of the senior girls who’ve played on the court, this group is a tough one for me personally.
This group of girls are part of the class of the youngest I “taught” when I entered my first year as a baby teacher. They were in 8th grade and I was there study hall teacher. Now, that first year I didn’t necessarily teach them a subject and mostly just supervised them as they did their work, but I got to know them briefly before they entered high school the following year. They were freshmen when I let them know I wasn’t going to be coming back full-time the following year. I didn’t anticipate coming back at all, but God allowed it to work out for me to come back part-time and teach drama. All four of these volleyball girls signed up for my class. Now, I’ve gotten to watch them grow in their academics, on the court, and in character the past five years, which is the most for me out of all the girls I’ve coached before.
Thursday this week is their senior night. Typically when the schedule comes out, we don’t have this event until the first or second week in October, which is dangerously close to my son’s estimated due date. I was very fortunate it was scheduled for earlier so I can be a part of it. Now, I know anything can happen between today and senior night, but I am just so grateful I have been able to be there as much as I have for their senior season already.
I left last season thinking I was coming back as head coach this year. When I go out for maternity leave, the season won’t be finished, and I have no idea if I’ll be able to come back next year for another season. I’ve learned that my plans and desires do not always line up with God’s grander plan, and my life is about to change in a wonderful way with our little boy entering it. Whatever may happen, I am trusting in Him and His timing because His plans are far better than mine, ones that “give a hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
So, like the seniors, I too am soaking up this season as much as I can just in case I take a hiatus from the court and coaching the sport I fell in love with all those years ago. I certainly still hope to find time to play regardless of whether I’m back coaching next season or not. My husband and I will have to start teaching our son how to pass as soon as those little legs can walk, but in the meantime I’m looking forward to all the baby snuggles in my future.
Lastly, my advice to anyone out there who may be scared to try something new for fear of failure or embarrassing oneself, is to give it a chance. It may give you a whole new hobby or path! I also told myself I would never become a teacher, and yet here I am now in year 5 where my students still call me Mrs. Huneycutt. That also terrified me, and I still remember on my very first day I threw up because I was so nervous. And that was just the first teacher workday before the school year even started!
You just never know where the Lord might lead you, and how the plan might change over time. I wasn’t even sure if I would have a part-time teaching position this year, and then two weeks before school started I get a call to come teach English once a week. It’s a pretty sweet deal and has been very nostalgic for me as I think back to me as a baby teacher in my first year teaching this same class. I never thought I would be teaching British Literature again to juniors and seniors, and yet again God has shown me His plans are far better.
Mirror, Mirror 