District CHAMPS

At the beginning of the school year, Carolyn tried out for the school's volleyball team.  Now remember, this is being told from Mom's POV....and every mom is supposed to think her child can do anything and that her child is the best at everything. I will be honest:  I am not that mom.  I knew Carolyn would try out for the team. I did not know she would make it.  You see, there are probably over 50 girls in grades 7 and 8 trying out for 12 spots on the team.  Carolyn has played off and on and was an OK player. I knew there were other girls who had played a lot more than Carolyn had. So that day in early August when she came to my room with her envelope from the coach saying, "Congratulations! you made the team!" her smile -- and mine -- was a mile wide.  Little did we know what this season would hold in store!

 

My next thought was, "I am so proud of her. She made the team.  I wonder if she'll play."  Little did we know what this season would hold in store. 

 

The volleyball coach at our school is pretty wonderful. She does a great job of teaching, coaching, and best of all:  team building. Well, her husband is a professional corporate team builder, so she has some background. Coach doesn't put up with much of anything from her players or from their parents - and the girls love her as much as she does them.  The season began and Carolyn would come home and sigh, "My serves weren't very good today.  I had some good passes....coach says she's going to try me in ____ position."  It changed  a lot those first few weeks and finally after a day of serve-a-thon and a couple of games of players in different positions, a team was forming. They were winning- and Carolyn was playing.  Little did we know what this season would hold in store.

Not only did Carolyn play, she grew to be a starter and an important part of the team.  She became one of the more consistent and stronger servers - remember the girl who could barely get an overhand serve over the net at the beginning of the season!?  She had fun and the team was 6-0 going into the district tournament.  Now the pressure was on.

 

We started tournament play the first weekend of November.  They played a fairly easy team first, and won the match.  The next game was more of a challenge, but they won. It was close. We were off to the semi-finals -- at the high school gym....with little or no ceiling boundary and a lot more room. It was going to be fun!  They played at Kellis High School and beat a good team. The fun fact was that our coach had coached the other team's coach when she was in junior high.  It was a tough game - a real nail biter - and after three games, the Heritage Eagles were off to the finals!  Again, little did we know!

The finals were held on Thursday night at Cactus High School. Again, playing in the big gym is a fun experience for these girls...just watching the high school girls finish their practice before we got to warm up was exciting.  I took my seat and had things organized as my stomach was in knots - I could not imagine what the girls were feeling.  So they did starting line ups and we all cheered - Heritage had a big and loud crowd there and it was time for the National Anthem.  I saw Carolyn go over to the microphone -- and was more stunned when she and her friend began singing...it was lovely - what little I could hear with the poor sound system. Another proud moment. 

 

The game began and suffice it to say, our nerves were for naught.  The girls played some of their best volleyball that night against a disappointing team. I was geared up for a much bigger 'fight' but the Eagles had it down and 'easily' won the match 2-0.  OK, there were moments of tension, missed serves, shanked passes...but for the most part, that was happening on the other side of the net.  It was crazy fun when the final serve went out of bounds and the other team was called out of rotation:  the Heritage Eagles were crowned the champions of the Turquoise Conference. 

 

Carolyn and Coach Mulvihill

Carolyn