The Sport That Lives In Me <3

You know that sport that gets the best of you. The one you put all your effort and mind to. The one that you prefer over everything. The one that you go to when you're feeling some type of way. The one that gets your mind off everything. My sport, my time flyer, my enjoyment, Volleyball. No one is going to understand the passion I have for this sport.

The first time I ever touched a Volleyball ball was in middle school. My sister was part of the school team. I decided to join because I found the sport interesting. I made it to the team and started playing. The majority of the time I was team bench because there were better players than me. I joined the team when I was in the sixth grade. As the time passed, I got more game time because I was getting better. Boy did I know how much I loved this sport!

My passion for the sport continued throughout high school. When I found out that my school had a volleyball team it was too late. My freshman year, I went to some of the practices and saw how things rolled. When the season was over I got an application for the following year.

Sophomore year came and practice started the first day of school. I loved it. The first half hour we spent it warming up and jogging. Then we had court time. We had many drills. My personal favorite warm-up was Queen of the Court. The rules of the game were simple. The winner stays on the court while the loser gets off. During this year I only played serving the ball, so when rotation came around I substituted one of the girls, and I served for them. After that, I was off the court and going to the bench. Later on, I found out that the team was a Varsity team, meaning that the players that played the most where the Juniors and Seniors.

Junior year came, and I had more playing time. I played in the back row. The only part of the game that always got me nervous, made me hesitate my moves, was when a player got ready to spike the ball. The ball will always fall short, not to where I was, so I had to dive to get it. My favorite part was the hustle. This year we made it to the playoffs. It was a great feeling. We felt amazing. We lost our first playoff game, so we were off the playoffs. We were all sad, but at the end of the day, we were extremely proud of ourselves.

Senior year came. I was one of the captains of the team, which made me really happy. My position at first was setting the ball, but then my coach changed me to play outside hitter. One of the things that I disliked was when I made a mistake during a game because I felt that I was disappointing everyone, my team, but especially myself. However, later on, I reminded myself that making mistakes is okay because we are humans, I am human. This year I played every game, every second of it. I loved it. I managed to get amazing stats in my opinion. I got 19 aces, 53 service points, 14 assists, 3 blocks, 40 digs, and 35 kills. You might be thinking, “why is she bragging” or “she is not even that good” Well honey, let me break it to you. I am proud and happy with my stats. This year we also made it to the playoffs. We won our first playoffs game against Thomas Jefferson, but we lost our second playoffs game to Gregorio Luperon. My team and I were still proud of one another because we were able to make it to the playoffs.

One of my favorite memories of the team was enjoying the time we had in the court. I know that every time we were there, in the court, we gave it our 110%. Another memory that I hold cherish in my heart, is the pizza party that our coach used to through us at the end of each season. Not only because of the food, who doesn’t love pizza but because here each player got recognition for their efforts. After each game, we all used to leave together, take the train together and act like hicks :) lol. I always liked to keep my space. P.S. Our pizza did not look no where near the picture :(

The volleyball team was more than a team. It became a family. I meet amazing girls, who have placed their own footprints in my life. I want to thank them and God for spending the best years of my life with them outside in the court. Volleyball is such an important part in my life because through it I forget about the world. When I play I feel free without a single care. These girls just made my experience better. I am definitely going to give this sport a try in college, I want to join the girl's volleyball club, and hopefully, as time progresses and I get better, I will be part of the Babson Varsity Girls Volleyball team in the future.

Thank you for giving me the time of your day to read this piece. If you have any questions regarding life or food do not hesitate to ask me. If you have any suggestions please let me know. Remember I am not the best writer. If you do happen to find a grammar mistake on this piece, please email me.

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Stay tuned for my next blog -> ?????????????

Since my next blog is going to be B5, I am going to make it a little different. I will be answering one of your questions, no matter the topic or genre. Feel free to ask away :)

XOXO Yerika