Going Completely Insane

So I’ve been giving it my all this week to go the extra mile to practice, which is rather difficult given that we had one organized practice, there is snow and ice everywhere outside my house, I have several finals next week, and my parents aren’t exactly all for the whole play in the house thing. They think I’m gonna break something or whatever. So I’ve taken to watching all of the training videos on the club website and getting some one-arm touches while sitting on the floor in my room. Not really the greatest conditions but it’s my third year, I know enough to make it work. Now not that I’m complaining, but my mom and brother aren’t going to be around for my first tournament of the season. My mom gets to go to my brothers house in Texas for a little while because she’s going to help look after my fifteen month old niece while his wife is doing a bridal shoot (she’s a photographer). As for my brother, Wes, he’s going on a road trip with his friends.

Normally this would be totally fine, my dad and I will just spend the time watching 1,000 Ways To Die, horror and action movies and eating. No biggie, we’ve done it before. Here’s the thing though, my mom let me know she couldn’t come by saying, “Since I’m going to Jake’s next week I won’t be able to make it to your first tournament. I’m sorry, 

I really wish I could go.” At which I smiled and said, “Nah, it’s fine. Isn’t my game this week anyway?” Nope. It’s next week. Gah!

Image courtesy of the Club Elevate site

So not only have I been struggling to find time to study for all my finals and to get some touches in, but now I also have to wait another week! What?! No! I do not remember signing up for that. Next week is going to be a brutal battle to get through. So just in case I come crying and complaining to my blog and poor unfortunate readers, I apologize now. I am truly and deeply, sorry. I’m also totally lying, expect ranting and whining about wanting to play. Starting now, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine. There ya go.

The only way that you will be able to escape this outcome is to comment and refer shows, movies, and YouTube videos. Yes, I have an addiction, please don’t judge me, I know people who are worse. So here’s where you must come in my young padawons, direct me toward the the multimedia to distract me for the remainder of the week. Enlighten me! I wish to view the things! All of the things! Send me all the funny, scary, dorky and utterly unnecessary links you can to keep me from going completely insane.

Just Wanted To Play

So today we had our only practice of the week, (yeah, I’m not thrilled about that) and we were working on transitions. Pretty basic stuff if you understand what you’re doing. It’s kind of hard to explain with words and not some type of visual aid, but I’ll give it a try. The position I’ve played the longest is setter, so I’m the one who always (well, mostly, always doesn’t always happen) gets the second touch so that I can set up the shot for my hitters, hence the name setter. Now the particular part of the transitions we were working on is when we are in serve-receive, with a back row setter on the right side, (generally known as rotation one for serve-receive using 6-2). This pretty much means that the other team will be serving at us and I am standing in the back on the right. 

Transitions for 6-2 in serve-receive
Image courtesy of Nitro 12 Regional website

What happens now is that I (S) will push up and hide on my right front hitter (RF), while the left front (LF) will pull back to help pass with the center back (CB) and left back (LB). This prevents most servers from being able to serve at me, which would put the play out of sync and basically increase the chance of us losing the point. So by standing on my hitter I can escape a vast majority of screwy plays. From there everyone can transition into their quick spots easily.

We worked on this for at least twenty minutes just tossing and catching the balls before we actually got to play it out.The only players getting any legitimate play time were those who got the first touches, so they could work on passing it to me. So when our coach finally said, “Okay, this one’s live. Make a play.” there was a sigh of relief across the court. I don’t know if you play volleyball, but I’m sure that it can be translated to all sports that if you’re walking through drills, it SUCKS! Seriously, there is nothing worse because all you want to do is play. It’s like having a scratch that you can’t itch, it’ll drive you insane! I think I speak for my entire team when I say, I just wanted to play!

Game Day

It’s 6:00 a.m. on a Thursday. The alarm is slowly fading into Sugar by Maroon 5. Eyes barely opening I look up to the glowing blue screen. Blink quickly, but my vision is still hazy, sigh softly and roll over, thinking Come on Adam, let me sleep. It doesn’t make a difference though, I have to get up. Reluctantly, I turn on the light and stumble blindly towards my bathroom. Ugh, bright lights, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and splashing water on my face. I check the clock again, 6:10 then wet my hair down and go back to my room to get dressed. “Jeans?” I ask to myself, “Yeah, why not.” Forty minutes later get on the bus, the typical exchange of “Hey.” between everyone. Sit down, stuff my practice bag under seat, get my earphones plugged into my phone and curl up against the window for a quiet ride.

7:30, first bell rings, slowly make my way through the hallways. Thinking the same things as always, Walk. Go… Walk! No, don’t stop here, you’re in the middle of the hall. What the hell are you doing? MOVE! If only I could actually say this, but I can’t so I only mutter an “Ugh.” under my breathe and carry on. The class is quiet, Tuesday, everyone remembering that we don’t get out early. The blank looks from my peers are only tiring me further, best to just sit down and get ready for class and hope it goes by quickly. That’s the plan for today, sit down, shut up, and pray for the bell. It works, so why not keep it up all day… Until lunch that is.

Back to my music, the best escape from everything. Plugging my earphones into my phone once again I can space out from what’s around me. Well, I can until Dillon comes up behind me with a hug, “Hey girl, hey!” I turn around smiling, he always knows how to make my day better. “Hey.” I say to the small group of friends forming around me, who always seem to turn up around the same time.  After lunch however we split up, Bella and I walking to the other building for our last period classes. It’s engineering for me, ‘bout time I go to a class I really enjoy. However, that’s not what I’m really looking forward to; I'm waiting for the last bell. It rings, Finally 2:25! I grab my game bag and head towards the gym at last. Stopping in the doorway I take a deep relieving breathe, it’s game day.

The door to the gym in our high school