Volleyball - Final Night

Last night was our last match as a volleyball team. We didn't end the season quite the way I had hoped they would. My girls seemed to forget everything they learned all season about serve receiving. They also got really sloppy with their serving.

It was a very frustrating night as a coach. I just don't know what to do or say to motivate a team when they get into what I call 'zombie mode'. It seems like every now and then every team gets into a situation where the entire team just stands around and watches. I've tried calling time out and pep talks. But all I can do is tell them to move, to get off their heels, to get into the game etc. But there are some times that those are only words. And apparently words aren't enough some times.

Inspite of the lackluster performance we lost the match close. We were down the first game 23-16 and came back to lose 26-24. The second game stayed close throughout and we ended up losing 25-23. All my girls needed was a couple more good first serves or a couple serve receives that stayed in bounds and they could have ended the season 7-1. But I guess that a 6-2 record with a team that only got practice 7 hours the entire season isn't bad.

I'm not bothering with the statistics I kept. The league is over, the team disbanded and I may not see any of those girls again. Except for my daughter, I keep bumping into her quite regularly.

I really hope I do see some of them around again. Hopefully on a volleyball court. There were a couple young ladies on my team that I would love to have play for me this fall. But they don't attend St. Anns. So I hope I at least get to see them on the other side of the net.

It was a good season and I had a blast. A stressful, heart-attack kind of blast.

Well I got more volleyball coaching to do tomorrow. We're having a three hour camp tomorrow for our school team. I hope several of the 5th graders who will be 6th graders next year show up. I'd like to get an early start with these ladies. The volleyball season starts so quickly after the start of the school year that it's hard to get them ready for the start of the season. So we are going to try and hold a couple camps this summer. This year it will hopefully help us get our 6th graders ready for the next season. If we can make these camps a regular summer activity we can also use them to help our 8th graders next year to get ready for high school ball.