Personal Odyssey Stuff

As a celebration of my making the volleyball team, I thought I'd post the summary I wrote about my Personal Odyssey from the Personal Odyssey Celebration and the video I made for it.

"My Personal Odyssey is volleyball. In 6^th grade, I realized that I actually really liked volleyball even though I hadn't before. In 7^th grade I played on the GMS VA team and fell even more in love with the sport. I did a bunch of camps and practicing the summer before 8^th grade. I joined a volleyball program called SillY Volleyball through DeAnza college that meets every Saturday morning so I could get more practice and training. I played with my dad and mom at home. Then, once volleyball season started at GMS, I made the VA team again. For my odyssey I've been practicing and playing at all opportunities, making goals, blogging about what I've been doing, and growing as a volleyball player!

Along with my newfound love of volleyball, one of the main reasons for me choosing this odyssey was high school. This is our last year of middle school, and in high school there are tryouts for the volleyball teams and not everyone makes it.  It is very competitive and volleyball is one of the hardest teams to get on at the high school I'm going to. I really want to continue playing volleyball, and I really want to be on the high school team! That is another reason why I really wanted a lot of time and opportunities to practice, learn, and improve my volleyball skills!

I've improved exponentially since before I started this odyssey. I have honed my skills to have more control. I corrected some things I did wrong, too, and learned new skills from my coaches at SillY. I have improved my hitting so that I hit it down and in much more. I have also improved my overhand serving. I didn't used to be able to get the ball over consistently serving overhand. Now I serve it over and in most of the time, and a lot of times the other team can't return the ball! I have learned many new skills, rules and strategies during this process, and improved all my skills with time and good coaching.

This project has been a great experience for me. I have gotten time to practice volleyball that I might not have gotten without this incentive. I'm also doing SillY Volleyball partly because of this odyssey. SillY has been so great for me, and I wouldn't be where I am today with my volleyball if it weren't for them! In addition to these new skills and practice time, I have gotten more confidence. I know more where I should be on the court at any given time, and feel more like I can get the ball if it comes to me, and make it to the setter or wherever it should go. I also feel more confident about my chances of achieving my goal of making the high school team. I enjoyed the opportunity to play more volleyball and learn so much more! It has helped me so much to do this, and I hope it helps me achieve my goal. Even if I don't make the team, I don't regret doing this project. I have grown so much and added to my love of volleyball. Now, I will continue to move on in my volleyball odyssey on my own. It will be an ongoing odyssey, and hopefully the next step will be playing high school volleyball!"

High School Volleyball

You all know that the culmination of my Personal Odyssey was to try out for my high school volleyball team. Well the tryouts were the week before school started and at the end of that week we found out the tentative team. I was going to go to the first night of volleyball tryouts and then if I didn't think I would make the team, I was going to try out for water polo instead, because I also really like water polo and it is the same season as volleyball. I talked to the Varsity coach after the first tryout to see if he thought I had a chance of making the team and he said he thought I was good enough to make the JV team, so I finished the week of 2 workouts a day of volleyball tryouts. At the end of the week I found out that I survived the first cut! On the Wednesday the next week (the first week of school) the team was finalized and I found out I was officially on the JV team! It was very exciting to be on the volleyball team and have reached my goal. It's really fun to be on the team, and all my teammates are really nice, but nearly every single one of them has played club volleyball. I have had probably the least experience on the team. It's really fun, but it takes up a lot of time! Practice is every day after school from 4pm-6pm and we have games every Tuesday and Thursday and sometimes tournaments on the weekends. Mostly all I have time to do is go to practice and then do my homework!

It's very exciting to be on the time and I'm really improving a lot. I am learning more about the specific positions, the rotation, and where people are supposed to be on the court at certain times. I am playing middle, which is in the middle front. It involves a lot of blocking and hitting.

I thought you all would like to know that I reached my goal and am continuing on with my volleyball odyssey.

Here's a picture of our team during a game:

I'm number 15!

Last Volleyball Practice

After the Personal Odyssey celebration, we had our final volleyball practice of the season, of this team and of my time at this school! We had a ton of food. I brought in 2 pizzas and a bunch of Gatorade, people brought in 4 different kinds of cookies, lemon bars, cake, and ice cream! I had a bunch of food, but after all the food of the Personal Odyssey celebration, I didn't eat as much as I might have another time! We made a card for our coach and everyone signed it. We also brought in a picture of the whole team for everyone to take a copy of.

We only had the gym for 20 minutes because they had to set up for another event that would be in there that night. We played a scrimmage in the time we had. It was very fun to play with the team, and I did my best. I actually had some really good dives, both in the same point, that saved the ball and got it either over, or able to be put back over the net! It was the kind of dive I had been wanting to do all season, and I was very happy that I was able to do it and show the team, and also just get the good feeling you get when you do something like that really well. Once we weren't allowed to play in the gym anymore, we went outside and played. It was really hot that day, so everyone drank a lot of water and/or Gatorade. It was just fun to have the opportunity to play, and I savored the last moments I had with my team. People had to leave early, so other people, not from the team, played with us on and off. We had more or less than 6 people on each side at any given time, and it kept changing, but we just kept playing, and it was fun no matter what.

It was our last practice of the year and it was very fun, but I was sad that I had to leave my team knowing that I would never play with them on that team ever again.

Personal Odyssey Project Wrapup

We had the Personal Odyssey Celebration on Friday as planned. Before we set our stuff up, we sat in a circle while some of our teachers talked, each said the title of our personal odyssey, and ate cake that they gave us. Then we had 10 minutes or so to set up our stuff and get ready for the celebration. We had 3 setups per table, each from a different class of Humanities (our English, History, Language Arts-like class). After everyone was setup we all sat on the floor facing the stage and prepared to watch or perform in (depending on who it was) the performance section of the celebration. The rest of the grades came in and sat behind us and the teacher, parents, relatives, friends and other people who had come to see stood in the back and on the sides. Then one teacher announced the celebration and had students come up and do their presentations. We had one person go up and sing and play guitar, one person played a beautiful piano piece, one person performed a piece of spoken word poetry they wrote, one person juggled a soccer ball while a slideshow of photos played, etc. A bunch of people also had videos or slideshows of pictures that they played instead of coming up. We watched all the performances, videos, and slideshows and then went on the the exhibition of the rest of us.

We were allowed to set up whatever we wanted to present our odyssey. We could have however much or little we liked as long as it was reasonable (and safe) and we had a summary explaining the project somewhere. We also had to present our odysseys to people in shifts. They had everyone who was in Humanities group A present their projects first, B second, and C third. Basically, everyone would wander around and look at all the projects and the people who were presenting would stand by their presentations and talk about their projects with the people who came by. We would also answer questions and explain things. I am in Humanities group A, so I stood by mine first. I didn't have a lot of people talking to me, although some teachers did chat with me at the beginning. Most people watched the video I set up and sometimes commented on how good I was at volleyball, and how professional the video looked. Also, people who were on the volleyball team with me looked for themselves in the video.

Once I was allowed to roam, I looked at a bunch of my friends and classmates odysseys. It was very interesting to see what everyone had done, how it all turned out, and how they decided to present their projects. One of my friends did henna art as her personal odyssey, and for her presentation she was actually doing it on people, which made her a very popular place to visit. She had a line that was longer than a wall. She was in the first group to present, like me, and actually didn't get to go look at other people's projects because it took her the whole time to do this and she still didn't get to everyone! Another one of my friends did art as her personal odyssey, and had a thing that connected to her laptop that you could draw on and it would draw on the computer! It was amazing, and she let people actually try it out! People really liked that, too. A girl who was also set up at my table made 1000 paper cranes for her project, and brought in all her cranes as well as Japanese candy for people to try.

A bunch of people brought food for the celebration. Multiple people did cupcake making as their personal odysseys, and other people did cooking through family cookbooks, making recipes from a certain culture, or just had baking as a part of their odyssey, like a friend who was studying Germany as her odyssey and made German cake that she brought in. There was a lot of options, so I tried my friend's cake, and an apple pancake that another girl made.

It was very fun to see what everyone else had done, and let people see all my hard work and enjoy my setup. This was the time for recognition of my personal odyssey and I really enjoyed it. I was very happy with the experience.

Personal Odyssey Celebration!

Tomorrow at school we're having a celebration of the completion of our Personal Odyssey project. First, some people will perform something they worked on in their odyssey (those whose odysseys involved performing, or could be performed). Then people will walk around and look at tables set up with a presentation of the odysseys. We're allowed to set up whatever we want to represent our project, as long as we include reflections from during the process (for me that will be my blog) and a summary of our project. People will walk around looking at the setups and eating sometimes (some people's odysseys were about food) until school is over. Then we will have our final practice of this year with this team and we will have a party with ice cream, pizza, and other food and we will play volleyball together and have fun for our last practice together!

For my setup for the Personal Odyssey Celebration I will have a poster board with pictures of me playing volleyball and my summary, a video playing on my laptop of me playing volleyball, and I will have all my blog posts printed out in a book/packet on the table for people to read.

I will post again after it happens with how it went, and pictures!

VA Home Game- unofficial

Today we had our first, and last VA home game! We played a school no one had ever heard of before. Our gym has a pretty low ceiling, which makes it harder to play because serves or the ball could hit the ceiling and it either causes the other team to get the point, or it changes where the ball goes which makes it harder to get. Since we practice there, we had an advantage because we've had to deal with the ceiling and practice playing without letting the ball hit it. A bunch of parents and other students came to watch us play. My friend's dad, who takes amazing pictures with fancy cameras, came and took pictures of the game, and then a picture of the whole team in our uniforms after the game.

We won both games, and therefore the match. We played well, and set up for hits a lot and did some really good ones. Also, the other team wasn't as good as the other teams, although they did some good things. The home court advantage did help us, though, because they hit the ceiling with serves and other things, which we did much less.

We won the first game by a lot. The second game was much closer, ending with a score of 22 to 25, but we won! We did well, but we got kind of lazy later on not going for some things and they brought it harder. It was never a question, though, that we were going to win (at least the match) and we did it!

That was our last game, and the only one we won this year, but it was a fun game! It was a great season and I learned a lot! I'm so happy we had a good coach this year who had us set up hits, and a good team of people who improved so much! I feel like if we'd had more time to practice together we would've done so much better, and maybe even won more games! It was a great season, it's so sad that it's over already! It went by so fast. I am grateful that I got the chance to play on this team this year, and I hope they continue to improve the quality of playing once we leave and new people join!

VA Volleyball Game #6

On Wednesday we had our last official game. It was a school we felt confident we could beat. We left early to get to the game on time. In the first game we were SOOOO close we could taste the victory that could have happened. The ending score was 24 to 26 and they won. It was a devastating loss, and I really could've seen it going the other way with us winning! The girl who served last and won the game for them was one of their best. She had a jump serve that was amazing, and hard to return. The second game wasn't as close and we lost 15 to 25. We played really well in the first game, and in the end of the second game. We had some really good rallies and we set it up to hit more and got some good hits! I felt like I could've done much better, but I did do a pretty good job. I had one thing where I was in the front row and we were returning the ball after a hit, and it didn't get passed to the setter, it was to me, and instead of setting it, I tipped it back over the net and it went right to the spot in the center of the court where no one was! No one got the ball and it was our point! Another thing that I did that was really good was also in the second game. We worked on blocking in practice on Tuesday, and especially where the people in the back row should be while some people in the front row are blocking. In the second game I was in the right back and  the setter and the right front were blocking, and I went right where our coach had told us we should be in that situation (right behind the blockers to cover the tips) and it was tipped over and since I was in the correct place, I got the ball and it was a good pass right to the setter!

Overall, I think we played well, and it was so frustrating how close we were to winning the first game! We were so close! We improved so much since the beginning of the season, and we played a really good game!

VA Volleyball Game #5

Last week on Thursday we had a game against a really good school. We did really well, and had some really good plays, but their team was great. They won the match. We did much better than we have at some other games, though, so hopefully we'll do even better tomorrow (Wednesday), when we have another game. Hopefully we can beat them, having our first win of the season. Tomorrow is also our last game in this official season. We have our first (and last) home game on Thursday, which won't count for the league, but will be fun, and maybe we can win that, too.

Last week we had 3 games in a row, one on Tuesday, one on Wednesday, and one on Thursday. We don't have practice on Mondays, and our coach had another thing to do instead of our regular Friday practice, so we had no official practice last week.

It's amazing to me that the volleyball season's almost over! It went by so quickly! It makes me very sad, but I feel like I gained a lot from the whole experience, and I hope it has helped me along toward my goal in my odyssey!

VA Volleyball Game #4

On Wednesday last week we had a volleyball game against a team which we were pretty close to in skill. It was a close game, but we didn't win. We seem to not always live up to our potential as a team when we're playing actual games.

Goals

I've been making personal goals throughout this process based on how I've been doing. When I play volleyball, I take note of what I feel like what I've improved on, and what I want to work on.

After our last volleyball game, the one on Tuesday, my goals are to work on:

           1. Aiming where I hit (spike) the ball. (hitting it to a specific location on the court)

           2. Digging. (diving or getting under the ball it's hit at me or is somewhere not very close)

  and   3. Knowing where I should be on the court at different times, like what is mine and what is

               someone else's.

Some other goals I've had in the past are getting more accurate at bumping the ball, and control with my touches in general, getting better at hitting, and more accurate at hitting, and serving. I feel like I am much more accurate with my bumping now, although of course I can still work more. I also feel like my serving is good now, and I just have to make sure I get a good toss for the serve. I almost always get it over when I feel like I had a good toss. I am much better at hitting now, so I should just get better at aiming it.

I am very happy with how I'm doing on my goals. Hopefully that will cause my big goal from the beginning of getting on the team in high school to come true too!

VA Volleyball Game #3

We had our third volleyball game on Tuesday. The school we were playing against was not as good as the ones we've played previously, and they were much closer to an even match for us. I think we actually can be better than them a lot of the time, but we weren't on Tuesday, so we lost. We had some really good plays, though, and I did had a bunch of good passes and serves.

Staff vs. Student Volleyball Game

Today our VA team played against some of the teachers and staff of the school in the assembly, with the whole school watching. It was very fun! We played in our gym, which isn't that big, so all the students who weren't on a team were sitting on the edges of the gym watching us. It was big enough that they could sit and there was still at least a foot or two between a student and the edge of the court.

Our coach wasn't there at the beginning, so we set ourselves up in positions and decided on how we were going to switch out. I started off playing and was in the right front like I often start. We took a while to get into it, so we were pretty even and then the staff got a little ahead. But then we got into it, and we pulled ahead and won by a lot. The first time I served, at the very beginning the serve was out, but then I served multiple more times, and then I had all really good serves! Also, in the first game I had a couple hits, and one of them was really good! It went down and the technique looked good, I felt good about it and was happy I did well and everyone could see it! I had some good passes, too.

We played two games to 25 points, just like we would against another school! We won both of the games, the second one by even more than the first! It was really fun, and it was good for us to have practice! We switched out every 10 points or so, and just had everyone waiting on the side to come in switch out with someone on the court, I didn't always have to switch out because there were only 4 or 5 people who needed to switch in. I got to play a lot, it was fun! Some other teams were playing outside at the same time as our games, but all the other students were watching us. We got to play a whole match, two whole games to 25 with a real referee! The only other team that got to play the staff was the JVA team, and they only got to play part of a game, with someone else as a referee, because the other one had to leave.

Overall, it was very fun!

SillY Volleyball - 4/28/12

At SillY this Saturday we had a day very similar to the last one. We did different drills, but it was set up very similarly and we did the intermediate-group like thing where all the people in the advanced group who played the position of middle went over to the other court to do training/conditioning and the rest of us (there were 11-13 of us left (depending on when, a few people came a little later) which was a perfect number for what we did) played a game like situation like the intermediate group, like the last SillY, but without the group of boys. There were still enough people, though, with a bunch of other people from the Advanced group there too. The number was great because we filled the court with 6 people on each side like a game. At the beginning, the coach was in as the setter, but he switched out with one of the amazing older girls once more people came. The coach threw the ball, or put it in play and we had to play it. It was like a game, but more practicing specific things. Also, the coach gave advice (coaching) at times. It was very fun and really good for me, I felt like I could contribute and I was still learning a TON! It was really great and I hope that they continue to do this group, because it was a really great thing for me!

VA Volleyball Game #2

We had our second volleyball game today! We lost both games that we had in the match, but the first one was really close. We were way behind, it was like 6 to 16, but we got the serve and we brought it back. They had 24 points and we had 20 points when I started serving. I did 3 serves, which were all in, and very good serves. We had 22 points and I served it over, the other team got it back to us and then it was passed, but not very well, so the set wasn't good, and the next person couldn't get it over! We were so close, but we didn't win. We caught up so well, though!

I felt like I did really well in this game, and I had mostly good accurate, controlled passes. I had some good saves, too, and one dive that was really great, that surprised even me! I had a lot of fun, and I thought that I did really well and I have improved a lot, and my skills are much better! Even though we didn't win, I thought we did MUCH better as a team, and I did really well individually!

SillY Volleyball - 4/21/12

At SillY last Saturday there was an extra group of boys who don't usually come. We did our regular warmups and some drills, which was fun. Then there was a kind of intermediate group! There were some of the younger more advanced people, middle-schoolers and freshmen and the group of boys and we played a game-like drill just without serving. It was really fun! I got some really good hits and really good practice! It was fun to play with them, and I hope they do the group again next week!

Picture from first game

Here is a picture of our team wearing our warm-up shirts over our uniforms preparing for our first game to start! You can see the other team in the background if you look closely enough. They look scary, even just from that, don't they? ;)

First VA Volleyball Game

On Friday our team had our first volleyball game against another private school. They were first in the league last season and were undefeated. That became especially clear by the end of the game. We did pretty well, actually, for how our team has been doing, but the other team was SO good. It seemed to me like they had been playing together for a very long time and they were all on club teams and amazing. The school we were playing was a lot bigger than my school, too, so they have a bigger pool to choose from. They were especially good hitters (spikers). They hit it hard and they aimed it and put it where we wouldn't get it. We need to improve on getting the ball when it's spiked and keeping our spirits up. Even so, though, we probably won't have a game so hard for the entire rest of the season. It's kind of unfortunate that that was our first game before we've had more time to play together and get a feel for the games, but we will learn from it.

I got to play for the entire first game and most of the second game, which was fun. I did pretty well, although I was upset at times because I could've done better. We only played two games because the other team won both of the first two (by a lot) so we didn't need a third. I felt like I did the best, and the team did especially well, at the very end of the second game. We brought it together a little bit and I thought was more of a team. We will improve, and I am confident we will do better at our next game. We might not win, but I'm sure we'll do better. I suppose we can only hope.

SillY Volleyball - 4/14/12

At SillY last Saturday I was with the Advanced group again, which I think is going to be how it is officially from now on. The Intermediate group is gone, and we talked to the coach about it and apparently it never really existed. Now, most of the people in the Advanced group are in high school or college. I'd say there are probably 6 or 7 middle schoolers in the group of at least 20 on a regular day when a bunch of people are absent! The high school and college players are VERY advanced and amazing players, and it is really hard for me to keep up with them! All I can do it try to get the ball up if I should and stay out of the way, which is hard. I am going to try my best to contribute more and learn all I can from playing with these amazing people and improve a lot, but for now it is extremely difficult, tiring, and sometimes distressing for me to be in this group. On last Saturday I dove for the ball a lot trying to keep it up and do what I could, but getting it when it was harder to get, so I had to dive. I would guess I dove about 6 times at least, and I actually got theball up 3 or 4 out of those times! That was good. I went down hard, though, for some of those dives. I probably wasn't using correct technique to keep myself uninjured, because I was justgoing for it. That's probably another something I can work on, diving correctly in such a way that I don't hurt myself.

This time I got an ugly bruise on my right hip, that looked like I broke a bunch of blood vessels! (ew!) I also got a burn mark from the floor on my left elbow, from sliding, a scablike sort of thing on my left knee from diving and sliding and it got below my kneepads, and my left hip also was hurting. Today I went to the chiropractor to get everything straightened out, and he straightened me out and gave me some stretches I can do after practice and games and such to help with everything.

Overall, I think being in the Advanced group will be good for me. Playing with and observing those amazing players can help me improve my own technique. Combine that with the extra practice time, higher level of drills and coaching, and the game-like situations that I get to apply myself in a much higher level than I probably need at this point, and I will be in really good shape if I just work hard, observe, and let myself make mistakes and not be as good as the other players. I don't have to be the best, especially not in this group. If I just do the best that I can do, practice, learn, and observe, I will get better and gain a lot from this experience.

VA Scrimmage

We haven't had any official games yet, but today the VA volleyball team had a scrimmage against another private school VA team. Originally, at the time of the scrimmage I had a conflicting event scheduled, but we moved it earlier so I would miss the last class of the day so I could go to the scrimmage. We figured I would be around the time the game was going to start (with no time for warmup) or even late. What ended up happening was that we got to the event exactly on time and did what needed to be done, and it ended up taking less time than we expected, so we actually got to the other school's campus for the scrimmage in the middle of the warmup time. It was a really good time to get there because the team was already there so I knew where to go and didn't have to wait, and I still got time to warm up a little and get the same place on the court I would've gotten if I had been there at the same time as the team. (If I had been late she would've probably had to give someone else my spot.)

We started the game and I was one of the starters on the court, which I was happy about. We rotated around the court to the different positions, but didn't just go out at a certain spot, our coach subbed us out when she wanted to. I stayed in for a lot of the first game before I was subbed out. Then I was in for the entire second game, and part of the third. To get to three games usually it is because one team wins the first game and the other wins the second, so the third is to determine the winner of the match. If one team wins both of the first 2 games, then there is no need to do a third, because the other team couldn't win the match, anyway. The team we were playing against won both the first two games, so the reason we played a third is that it was a scrimmage, so we could, we all wanted more practice and it would be fun!

Our team actually did really well in the games, much better than we had been before. I think being in a game setting was good for us, and especially good practice so we know what to work on and we know what to expect for games. We did a lot of good bump-set-hit stuff where we actually got all three hits and got it over. We didn't win the games, but we learned from them. I think I did a good job. I did really well with serving, I had a bunch of serves in a row at the beginning of the first game that were good, and most of them the other team couldn't return. My serves after that were good, too, but there weren't any other runs that were that long. I made some good passes, got some good hits, and contributed well to the team. The thing about volleyball is that it is really a team sport. You can do perfectly (which I didn't, I'm just saying theoretically) and still not win or do as well if your team is not good, or can't work together well. I think we have a lot of potential as a team, and we're actually doing pretty well already (better than last year's VA team, because we're actually bump-set-hitting and making it over! Last year we didn't even try to do that), but we just need to learn our team dynamic and get even more practice playing together, and work even more on our skills. I think we are well on our way, though, and I am excited for our first game on Friday to see how we do!

SillY Volleyball - 4/7/12

It's been a while since I've posted about SillY, sorry, but I've been going most Saturdays as usual, although I missed a few weeks because of various conflicts. This Saturday and for the past few there have been very few people, less than usual, and so there really has only been two groups. There has been the beginner group and the advanced group, the intermediate group hasn't been happening. This is sad for me because I am in that group and I feel out of place, like I'm not as good, with the advanced group, but I don't belong in the beginner group at all either. It is very confusing and stressful for me. I hope they bring the intermediate group back, and soon. This Saturday we were in a different, smaller, gym than usual, because our other gym was being used for something. There was only one volleyball court in the gym instead of our usual 4, so we did everything together. We did a weird warmup with yoga mats and heavy balls and did aerobics or something. Then we did some passing like normal. Then, all of us together, we did passing and hitting and stuff on the single court. At the end they had everyone who was not in high school sit on the side and watch the older kids play and they were amazing. I particularly watched their hitting (spiking) and tried to learn from it. That's my goal right now, to work on my hitting.

The week before this, my grandparents came and watched me at my SillY Volleyball class! It was really nice. Then later, I played volleyball with them and taught them some of the things I know, the basics of playing. It was very fun!

VA Volleyball

A few weeks ago the list went up for the Varsity A volleyball team at my school. I am on the team! We have had some practices and our team is improving. Our coach is not a volleyball player, she didn't play volleyball before, but she's been studying. She was the VA coach for basketball at our school, so she's trying out being the coach for volleyball to see if she'll be the coach for all the VA teams. She started studying before volleyball season started so she could be ready for the first practice, and she was. She has also continued studying and improving since then, so she will be an even better coach than she already is. Even though she isn't an expert in volleyball in particular, she is a really great VA coach, so it actually works out really well. As a team, we're trying to do things right and get 3 hits and everything, but we need to practice. We have been practicing and we'll practice this week (and after) but our first game is on Friday. That will be the real test of our ability and our teamwork, and I hope we do well!

Volleyball Practice 3/12/12

Today at my house I decided to do my volleyball practice and check-in/test again just to see where I was, because I haven't done it for a while. I was inspired by playing in P.E. to play more!

Here are my results from today:

Bumps: 39

Sets: 11

Fist Bumps: 45

I'm excited for Thursday's tryout! I'm glad I had some time today to work more in preparation!

P.E. Volleyball

Today we started our volleyball unit in P.E. I was VERY excited when I walked into the gym and saw the volleyball net set up. I nearly jumped with joy! Before every P.E. class we get a little time to warm up, do whatever we want until class starts. Today, since there was the volleyball net set up, the whole class except one person played together until class. It was really fun!

Then our teacher came out and we ran our warmup lap. Then he started to explain some things about volleyball, which of course I already knew. He talked about the boundaries on the court and what they're called and stuff. Then he needed an example to show passing. He asked for someone who plays volleyball, so I raised my hand. So I got to demonstrate passing for the class! First he had me sit on the ground with my legs spread out and show there, then he had me get up on one knee and pass, and then standing up. He commented to the class on my form passing standing; he said I had good form, and pointed out how I bent my knees and spread my legs. Then, we passed in partners. We did the same routine I had done with the teacher, throwing the ball to the person sitting and then switch, knee and then switch, and then standing. Then we passed back and forth, which was fun, and we saw which team in the class got the most consecutive passes. Me and my partner got the most. We got 30, while most of the other teams got somewhere around 2-8 passes. One team got 17, which was the closest to what we got.

Then we played queen of the court. We broke into three teams of 6 people, except one team which had 5. He had people who played volleyball first, so there would be at least one experienced player on each team. I was one of the people, and there were two other girls too. One of them was my partner from the passing we had done earlier. Then we broke into teams. The game was two teams were on the two sides of the court. One side was the queen side. Whoever won the point would go to the queen side and stay there until they lost a point. We played that until the end of class and it was REALLY fun! At the end, all the teams had 3 points, except one who earned a fourth point right at the end of class.

Overall it was a REALLY fun P.E. and I am really excited to continue volleyball in P.E.!

Also, the tryouts for my school volleyball VA team are on Thursday! I am going to try out for VA, I was on VA last year, and I'm very excited for tryouts coming up! I hope I am able to be on the team again. I think I will be because I made it last year and I have improved a ton since then!

SillY Volleyball - 3/10/12

Sorry everyone, it's been a while since I posted, but I've been really busy! I've been going to SillY Volleyball on Saturdays, but I haven't been posting. The last few weeks there have been less people there than usual, so we do more things with all groups together and then the advanced group breaks off and we work with the beginner group for the rest of class.

This Saturday at SillY there were even fewer people than there have been lately. We did our warmup, 15 laps and the usual passing with a partner stuff, and then we basically broke into two groups to do our exercise with 3 passers on the court and a target. We broke into beginner and intermediate and advanced together. Then we did other exercises like serving and spiking practice. That was the point when the advanced group usually broke off to do their advanced stuff. This week they had the intermediate people go over, too. So I got the chance to play actual game-like scenarios and do advanced skills practice with the really good people! It was a really great experience and I think I improved a lot playing with them. Also, the advanced group stays later, so unexpectedly, we got an extra hour of playing time! Luckily we didn't have anything else we were planning to do. It was really great to get the extra time playing the more advanced and rigorous drills and working with more great coaches and amazing players! It was a really fun day at SillY and I learned and improved a lot.

One of the specific skills we worked on, that was new for me, was switching positions at a specific time during a volley. Basically, we started off in one position in the rotation, and after the serve or at another specified time during the volley, we were supposed to switch positions to another specific place and play there for the rest of the volley. I've seen private school teams I've played on my school team do that, so it was cool to be behind the switching for once.

Other than that, mostly I just improved a lot upon skills I already knew. They taught me what I was doing wrong for some things, and helped me improve on others with advice, and just with me observing the other players in the advanced group.

While we were playing the games we played with the other kids in the group, of varying ages, but also with the coaches (and for a while with the coaches' little 8 year old daughter, who's actually pretty good). It was a really good experience for me!

SillY Volleyball - 2/11/12

I didn't go to SillY last week because I went to a math competition with my school (which was fun!). I went today, and didn't do quite as well (in my opinion) as I have before, but I think I'm still improving and I just needed to get back into it after taking a break. It was fun, we did the usual warmup, pretty much. 15 laps around the gym. And we did 3 people on (back row) with one target for a while, then we did 3 people on the court in the back row with a setter and an outside hitter. Another thing we did today was we practiced hitting a little. With 2 lines on the outside (both sides) on each court for 3 courts we threw the ball to ourselves and hit it over to the deep corner (that was our goal). Then we did the same thing, but we threw it and then attempted to do an approach and jump to hit the ball over. That was pretty much all we did today, but it was fun, and as always I think it helped me improve.

Also, on another note, I'm going to hopefully be signing up for Stanford summer Volleyball camp, if there's still space!

SillY Volleyball - 1/21/12

On Saturday I had my SillY Volleyball class, as usual. This time my friend came with me, she will be doing this class too, and during the warm-ups we were partners. This time we did the regular warm-ups (see 1st SillY class post for more details of close to what we did) and then broke into our groups.

We had different coaches this time than last time, a pair of people. First in our group we did the 3-on and a target combo for a while. And we did a game. We had 4 people and one of the coaches on each side and basically played an actual volleyball game, except we didn't really count points until the end. The setup was 3 people in the back row and one person in the left front hitter position. The coach was the setter. We played with whoever was in the right back spot actually getting to serve the ball; overhand of course. I started off in the left front hitter position and did really well, getting some good hits in before we rotated positions and I was left back and serving. I did well with my serves, getting pretty good accurate overhand serves most of the time, which is an improvement. They were also very powerful, which is good considering I have so much potential in my strong arms. We rotated through all the positions playing the game, which was really fun. Near the end, I was in left back and our coach from last time had finished with the group he was with for the day and was watching us. I dived for the ball and saved it and it was awesome! I was really happy with how I did with that, and then he said it would be the last one, and the coach who was working with us on my side gave me the ball to serve. The first time I tried I didn't get a good toss, so I hit the ball into the net, but they let me try again and it went over and was good! The other team didn't get that ball, so he gave it to the other side to serve for the last one.

The game was really fun and I was happy to get to actually play and practice my serving in game play, because it turned out really well! I learned (as usual) and I think I improved a lot! This program has been really helpful to me and I think it will improve my volleyball skills immensely by the end of the process, since so far it has done so much.

If you want to learn more about SillY Volleyball here is the website again!

SillY Volleyball- Class #1

Today I had my very first SillY Volleyball class of the season! It was really fun and educational and I really enjoyed myself!

First when we got there we had to run 10 laps around the gym, then stretched, which I believe will be our warmup every time. Then we got partners and did ball warmup and practice. We threw the ball to each other, bounced it, with both two hands and one, and then did tips. Tipping is like spiking, but you use the tips of your fingers and tip it over. It's softer than hitting (spiking). Then we did actual hitting to our partners. Then we started passing (bumping). We first threw the ball to the other partner and they'd pass it to us. Then after that we passed back and forth, with a different variation after that, where (practicing ball control) we passed once to ourself, then shifted forward and passed to our partner back and forth.

After that we split up into groups based on age and level, and I was in intermediate with mostly 8th and 9th graders. Our group was the smallest (at least for today, I'm not sure how big it will be in the future). We had only 7 people, not including our 1 coach. We warmed up with 5 little tiny sprints across the court and then did an exercise where there were 3 people on the court and one target for the people to aim to. The coach passed the ball out somewhere and whoever's it was had to call it and pass it to the target, who put it put it back in the bin and went to the back of the line. We did that for a while, then went to the corners of the court and he (the coach) spiked it to us to get back to him, and then he tipped it and we had to get it, then go to the end of the line on the other corner of the court.

After that we had a water break, then came back and had 6 people on one side, and the one other person and the coach on the other. We were in the positions, with the front middle as the setter and basically played a game. The coach passed the ball in and we bumped it to the setter (or tried to) the setter would set it and usually one of the outside hitters would spike it over and it would continue. Either the coach and other person on the side would get it and get it back over, or the coach would start a new ball. Whenever someone made a mistake the person who was out (on the side with the coach) would take their spot and the person who made the mistake would switch with them. I started out as the setter (front middle) and stayed for a pretty long time! I was a little surprised because I'm not the best at setting, but I think I did well, and am improving, which is great! We continued like that and I switched out like everyone else, but not too often. It was really fun and we actually did really well and managed to bump, set, spike it over successfully a lot! After that we did a cheer and then went home.

I had a lot of fun and am really looking forward to next Saturday, and the Saturdays continuing when I'll get to do it again and continue to improve! The classes are 2 hours long on Saturday mornings from 9:00 am to 11:00 am. Here's the website if you're interested in more information.

Volleyball Practice 1/8/12

Today I practiced some volleyball outside of my house. I have practiced a few times that I haven't posted about, but they were shorter, and I didn't do the test, so I didn't post it for you guys. Today I passed back and forth with my dad for a while, then did my "test" (look back at first one of these for schedule). Here are the results from today:

Bumps: 39

Sets: 15

Fist Bumps: 25

I still need to work on setting, but I do think I have improved since last time because of the SillY Volleyball Clinics and I am better already. I think all of my skills have improved at least slightly, because the bumping, setting, and fist bumps were much more controlled than last time, even if some of the scores may be less, namely, the fist bumps. Everything else my score is better than last time.

Also, next Saturday my SillY Volleyball classes start, so I will let you know how that goes. I'm very excited!