Keara Rankin
computer aps
10-11-11
The Championship
Volleyball season was coming to an end, and the championship was coming up. It was two weeks away and the Southwest Eagles, my team, really wanted that 1st place trophy. I, Molly Maher, could hardly believe it. Before I tell you what happens, I am going to tell you a little bit about myself and my team. My name is Molly Maher. I play volleyball for the Southwest Eagles. I am 14 years old and on the freshmen team. Our two best players were out for the season due to an accident they were in. We thought our team was out for the season because we only had six players left. I personally thought our team didn't have a chance, I mean we hardly had enough players and we lost our two best players. Two freshmen heard about the accident so they joined our team so we didn't have to drop out.
Now, they weren't horrible, but they definitely weren't the best. They both had only played for one year, and they needed alot of practice. After seeing a few practices, I was getting to the point were I wanted to quit. The only reason I didn't was because my parents wouldn't let me. They told me that we would be better next year when we had our best players back. They also said that if I quit this year, the coaches probably wouldn't want me on their team next year. I guess they did make a good point, so I decided to stick it out the rest of the season, I mean there were a only a few weeks left anyways.
The first game we played with our new team was horrible. Our team wasn't communicating at all and I was getting so frustrated. Our team had the worst attitude. When one person messed up, our whole team got mad and would mess up. It made everything worse. The first match we lost. The score was horrid, twenty-five to two. the second match not as bad, twenty-five to eleven. Normally, the score of the second match would be bad, but not after seeing the score of the first game.
To help us improve, our coach brought in some of our better varsity volleyball players. they served to us, and hit to us. The ball stung you every time it hit you. We were practicing horribly. We hardly got the ball to setter and we were afraid of what our coaches reaction may be. She didn't look mad. We were all confused as to why she didn't look mad. The next day we didn't have practice. Instead, we had to go and watch the varsity game. Our coach told us to watch the players who play the same position as us and watch how they play. She also told us to keep track of how many perfect passes they got to target, and how many blocks they had throughout the game. We had one more practice, then we had our next game. Once again, the next day at practice, we practiced with varsity. I didn't know why we were practicing with them because they didn't seem to be helping us but my coach never said anything.
The next day before our game, we had a meeting. We discussed what we could do to improve our team. We all agreed that our attitude stunk. We also agreed that we needed to improve our communication. The other team walked in, and oh boy did they look intimidating. They were tall, athletic, and ready to play. Our team was a little frightened, but we weren't going to let that stop us from trying our best. The games were pretty good. We were moving, talking, and passing great. I remember asking myself "How are we passing this good?" Then I remember how the varsity team served and hit to us. We thought we were doing bad, but in reality, it was making us better. Anyways, we still lost, but it was a good game. The score of the first match was twenty-five to twenty, and the score of the second game was twenty-five to twenty-three. Even though we didn't win, our coach was still proud of us.
Once a week, we had the varsity team practice with us. We had a few more games after that. We won one game and lost two, but the ones we lost were close. The tournament was coming up soon. The first team we faced in the tournament were the Springfield Bulldogs. We had never played them before, so we didn't know if they were good, bad, or just average. We showed up nervous, but being nervous isn't always a bad thing. We watched them warm up, and they weren't that bad. Perhaps you could say they were a little over average. The game started out bad. The score was seventeen to eleven with Springfield winning. Luckily, our most consistent server was up next. We got a good pass to target, a perfect set, and an amazing kill giving us the point, and ball. Our most consistent server was up, and she got us tied up with the other team. The other team got the next point, but we got it back and tied up the game again. Our next server went up. She is not very good or consistent. I was getting scared that she was going to miss, but she picked up that ball and hit it as hard as she could getting us an ace. She served us all the way to twenty-five winning us the game. The other team gave up the second game and we killed them. We were all so happy. We had made it to the finals and they were just a few hours away.
The next team we were facing were the Northwest Crusaders, the team that killed us our first game with our new team. We were terrified. Our players were talking like we were the worst team out there. They were saying stuff like, "We are going to lose, we are going to lose." They also were saying, "They are so good, we are going to get killed." I stepped in and told them, "Don't say that. We have to believe in ourselves in order to achieve our goals." That worked because we won. Not only did we win, but we won in only two matches. The other team walked into the game thinking they beat us once, they'll do it again. They were a little too over confident. Our coach told us this was our best game yet. I was so excited, I mean we were going to the championship. That night, I could hardly sleep. I still couldn't believe we were going to the championship. The next day went by slow. I told everyone to be at the gym by 3:00p.m. When they got there, we discussed our plays, and how we can't be over confident, but we still have to believe in ourselves.
We didn't know who we are playing. We hoped they were a good challenging team. When we play a bad team, we win right away and it doesn't seem like we played a real game. When we play a good team, and they kill us, and its not any fun. I like playing a team who is just as good or better then us, because it's challenging and interesting to watch and play. We found out we were playing the Central Falcons. I knew they were going to be a good team, because I recognized three of the girls on their team. They played for the same volleyball club as me and we were all the same age, but they were so good they got moved up to the 16's team.
The game started off good with us winning, then we made a mistake which messed us all up. The server on the other team went up to serve, the referee blew that whistle, and she threw the ball up. She hit it super hard and it flew right at me. That ball stung my arms as if it were a bee, but I didn't care because I had got a good pass to target and was ready to hit. Our setter set me up, I did my approach, and down that ball went. Number twenty-two on the other team shanked that ball to the other side of the court. When we got back into the rhythm of things, we started winning again. The first match was close. We ended up winning twenty-seven to twenty-five. I would like to tell you we killed them that second match, but we didn't. We messed up twice and it tore us apart. We ended up losing fifteen to twenty-five.
I was so disappointed, but then I remember we still had a third match, another chance to come together as a team and win this championship. We started out bad, and the other team got ahead by seven points. I called a timeout and we all came together on the court. I told our team we needed to side out, concentrate, and most importantly communicate. I guess my speech worked because we got the next point with a great pass to target, a beautiful set, and an amazing kill. I went back to serve, and I tried really hard not to think about all the pressure I was under. I threw the ball up when that whistle was blown, but I let it drop. It was a bad toss, and most of the time a bad toss means a bad serve. We couldn't afford any more missed serves because if we wanted to win, then we had to step up or game. I threw the ball up again and I put all my power into my serve, giving us an ace. I served us up to eleven before the other team got the ball back. They still only had eight points, but it was a close game. They served a few times, then missed their serve giving us twelve points, with them only having eleven. Our best server was up next. She served us to fifteen winning the game.
I was so happy we had actually won the championship. I was so proud of our team as a whole. We had all come together and had given our best performance. This was the first time in twenty-one years that the freshmen volleyball team has won the championship for the Southwest Eagles. It made me even more proud of us when I remembered we walked into the tournament without our best two players of the season. If I learned one thing, its not to judge something before you try it. That's why I'm glad I didn't quit. If I did, then I wouldn't be telling you this story right now. That's how the Southwest Eagles won the championship.
