This season was unbelievably frustrating and stressful. My girls were good, but did not show the kind of dedication I would have liked to see. We didn't have a single practice during the season with the entire team. I had an average of 5 girls at every practice. That is the perfect amount to teach individual skills...but you can hardly do any good drills with so few. With such a low number, I was able to really help each individual girl...and I saw HUGE improvements in several...but the team was never able to improve together. This group had such potential to be great...but just didn't want to put in the time or the work. SOOOO frustrating. When they DID show up to practice, several girls would just complain about everything. Complain about not playing well (DUH...how can you expect yourself to be good when you practice MAYBE once a week...and lazily at that), about a hard or confusing drill, and mostly about having to condition at the end of practice (I didn't even make them do it every practice...and it was NOT hard stuff...I don't think. haha). It was just frustrating to put time into it and not have the girls invested.
In the end, though, we had a blast and the girls learned an awful lot. I probably shoved too much into their little volleyball heads. A couple girls became such AMAZING players throughout the season and I can't wait to hear about how well they do in school ball. When the girls were there, they listened to every word I said and really tried to do everything I told them (with some complaining at times...but they never disrespected me). It's so weird to be done...club season is so long that the end is always bittersweet...but I'm glad I no longer have to go to Saturday tournaments at 7 AM.
I will definitely miss my girls...and I will miss coaching for a couple years for sure. Perhaps it will make it more satisfying when I come back after some time away! Now bring on summer volleyball! This will be the first summer that I really get involved in all the outdoor vball Boise has to offer. I have really enjoyed playing indoor stuff (LOVE reverse coed 4s [even if we get 2nd every tourney UGH]...and city league 6s)...so hopefully grass doubles will be just as good. It's just fun to actually WIN at this stuff after having such TERRIBLE college seasons. haha. I guess I'll keep you all updated :)
Here are some shots from our last tourney for your viewing pleasure:
That would be me, giving some great advice. Or saying something inspiring. Yeah.
Giving the sign for where to serve. Area 1 was not my team's fave. For some reason giving a 1 usually resulted in a missed serve.
Northeast Hills 18 Gold. Aren't we presh?!
I have a million of these pics and I couldn't even find ONE with all of us smiling at the same time. This one is the best we've got. Loved it :)
I wanna play for Maren Ericson!
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