If You Can't Be An Athlete, Be An Athletic Supporter

I’m going to be honest with you.  This post is a puff piece written by a proud father.  I’ve made mention of my daughter’s participation in volleyball, mostly through photo captions in my “365 in 365” projects, but haven’t written at length of her experience with the sport.  Obviously, I look at her through the lens of a parent, but I honestly believe she is a talented player.

Her mother got her enrolled in a club team in the Maplewood area.  This is a huge commitment in money and time for both of us, not only for the club fees (which G-Bug’s mom is handling), but also traveling to various venues for overnights and weekend tournaments.  Most tournaments are in the Twin Cities, but there are a couple in Rochester, MN; one in Wisconsin Dells; and the Grand Finale in Orlando, FL in June.  Both of us beamed with pride when we saw her be selected by the 16-1’s coach to play on his team.

Playing club volleyball is an entirely different experience than high school and less expensive clubs.  The competition is intense, the conditioning grueling, and the coaches demand the best from every player.  They also instill a sense of team spirit, which I felt was a little lacking in the club team G-Bug played for, but was better when she made it on the JV squad as a sophomore.

If there is a downside to this club team, it’s that G-Bug is playing with other quality players who have shown a more competitive fire.  Her coach has commented how she is too nice and she has to find a way to “release the beast.”  I’ll tell you this though, you can’t ask for a better 11^th player off the bench.  Plus, at 6’1”, she is the tallest on the team.  She has been projected to be a middle blocker, but there are two other middle blockers ahead of her; so she doesn’t get much court time.

However, she has made the most of her time when she is competing.  A couple weeks ago, she was playing middle when an errant pass from the other team floated toward the net.  G-Bug jumped and spiked the ball with authority.  The ball didn’t bounce, but cratered!  Her whole team cheered and her coach jumped out of his seat.  A few people in the crowd, who knew G-Bug didn’t compete much, but was patient for her opportunity, cheered as well.  The parents of one of her teammates came by and gave me a congratulatory pat on the shoulder.  After the match, G-Bug was all smiles.

This past weekend, the team was participating in the President’s Day Festival and G-Bug was put in the rotation as an outside hitter.  She looked a little confused on the floor as she didn’t practice much at the position, but she did a very good job; not only as an outside, but serving as well.  In truth, I think she is more suited at this position and the mother of one of her teammates said the same to me during the tournament.

Every Wednesday night, we go to LA Fitness to play volleyball during the open gym time.  There is a regular group of Hmong people who play, both men and women, with a sprinkling of others for diversity.  The play is first come, first serve, so every night is a different mix of teams.  The rules are six players per team who rotate around a permanent setter.  This person is in the middle, so the other two players at the net rotate from the left outside to the right.  This is where G-Bug has gotten most of her outside hitter experience.

I think when we first played, the other players weren’t quite sure about us.  G-Bug is tall, but young and might not have been up to the level of competition.  She proved herself in short order.  In fact, she has developed a little bit of a fan club that cheers and claps whenever she puts down a good spike or serves an ace.  I’ve played against her a few times, too, and she is an excellent server.  She’s dumped a couple right in front of me and I’ve watched others whistle passed to get misplayed by one of my teammates.  I’ve thought about creating short videos of her playing so I could send them to her coach; but then I thought he might not want his players involved in the seamy underbelly of back alley volleyball.

Hey, that might be a good movie idea!  Dibs!!