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!