On paper, Emerson Girl’s Volleyball is 1-1 in the league. The tied record does not represent the progress observed on the court the last two games. We played Bethel Baptist on Tuesday, when they had dropped out of the league, securing our win, however, we scrimmaged them for our first practice game. We played best of 5 games, lost the three, but our best performance was the third game when the team truly stepped up and nearly secured the win with a score of 24-26. For the first time that match, I saw the potential that lies just beneath the surface.
The next day, we had practice at Grijalva park, on the grass. Coach Dinh and I had noticed that the girl’s main issue was the lack of communication on the court and the need for hitting the ball in repetition. We had the entire practice focused on calling the ball when it was in the air and drills to have the girls get their repetitions for bumps and sets in. As a coach, it is a good feeling when we can see the girls notice themselves improving in the basic skills of the sport. Thursday will bring Game 2 against Orange County Christian (OCC) at their home. Going in, we knew this was a stronger opponent than our last, but every game is a chance for improvement. We began warm ups, yet only half our team was there! One can imagine my frustration as the clock ticked its way towards game time. The referees came up to me and told me that if our sixth person does not come within 5 minutes of game time then we would have to forfeit the game. Luckily, the other half of the team showed up within 10 minutes of game time, skipped warm ups, and we huddled up and prepared for the game. Although OCC is overall a stronger team than Bethel Baptist, our girl’s stepped up and came out to play! We were hitting our hits and rallying the balls over the net. Our communication improved, hearing the girls yell “I got it!”. There are still things we need to work on moving forward, but I couldn’t have been happier with the results from the loss at OCC. With this type of improvement and progress made with just this last week, I see a bright future for the Emerson Girl’s Volleyball team. As long as they wish to improve, they will be able to.
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AuthorNovice blogger entering the world of writing to share my experience as a teacher/coach at Emerson Choice Academy. Go bears! Archives |