Volleyball season is from Dec-May. There are 3 "premiere tournaments" at which your results determine your standing. At each Premiere you go up in standing or down. So eventually you end up playing teams that are just perfectly as strong as you. By the end of the year you are playing exceptional volleyball against the teams that are just barely better or worse. Then the provincial tournament and the national tournament in Mid May.
I got Michael into a 'club' in 2022. It's expensive but if you coach then the fees for your child are waived. I've coached Michaels team for 3 years, but this year I was planning on dropping off of Michaels team and playing on Alices team. Michael is on the competitive U15 Canucks, and Alice went right to the competitive 'feeder team' U13/U14. There is no U13 Canucks, but they do a blended 13/14 with girls that didn't make the actual U14. Instead they can teach younger girls, and the younger girls can get some excellent experience before their actual U14 year.
I tried to get onto Alices volleyball team but Diego and Tolu were the coaches and they wanted two other 'girls' as coaches. So I am just the parent, and I coach on Michaels team again.
Premiere 2 was this weekend. Feb 27/28. Diego couldn't coach so he asked if I would coach Alices U13/U14 team for the weekend. Of course I was so excited!
We played on Saturday at the seven chiefs gym on the tsutina reserve. Three games, and they won them all. In the second game, they won 25-22 and then 30-28!!! They are playing in division 3, but they are also playing against girls a year older than them.
On Sunday, because of all the winning, they were in the Semi finals right away. Coach Diego showed up right at the end of the semi final match and the girls won! In the finals, they ended up against the team that they'd beaten 30-28 yesterday. The 'Cranes' for gold or silver. The Cranes are a new club that plays down by Mount Royal. I ended up socializing with their coaches a few times. They were just wonderful people. We lost the first game, it seemed as if the Cranes had figured us out. The second game, we had some excellent serving and won. In the final game, scored to 15, we ended up serving the lights out and beat them 15-5 in the third set to win the gold.
I claim all rights to the winning and the success. Rachel is 18, and a good coach, but it seems like teams need a younger relatable person and an older person to organize the line up cards, interface and organize timing when the games are starting, reminding to do timeouts in strategic points to try and ice the other team. I was also filling Rachel up with all of the motivational talk before team chats, and most importantly of all I was cheer leading like nobodies business.
The things that I do, are very strategic. I know what a bad serve looks like, what a bat hit looks like, and yet when I see five seconds before things go bad, and know what they should have done, at the moment when the gym quiets from the cheer I'm yelling to them that they did it exactly right, and to do it again, and that they were perfect. wait, wait, wait, wait wait, EMMA EMMA EMMA EMMA!!! THATS THE WAY! PERFEECT!!!! DO IT AGAIN!!!!!
I think that it's a mormon thing. I don't remember a specific mother at the basketball games cheering for me as a child, but I felt it. I know that people were yelling my name, I know that there was positive feedback ALL OF THE TIME!!!
The game ended and one of the kids said "Alice, are you coming to Boston Pizza?". She looked to me, and I said 'of course we are'!
I hate boston pizza.
We go to the team dinner afterwards so that 9 of the 12 kids that were available could chat and eat. During the dinner Natashas mom was talking with me, and said that she heard a small group of our girls bad mouthing the other ones. She asked if she should tell the coach.
Now I had just gone through a moment with Michael where I was going to light the world on fire. I had been supported by Rebecca on the path and tools. I had gone half way towards writting a letter. I'll say it again.... I was about to write a letter, with a CC line, and print it, and send it in the mail. Thats bad. Thats real bad.
After talking to the two parent groups about the two culprits in Michaels situation I noticed that the one whom is the real problem was still trouble, and their parents were not interested in contrition or accountability.
I was talking to Mary about this and she said "you shall have no satisfaction". That is what I shared with Natashas mom Miranda. Miranda, register it in your mind, don't forget it, but just wait and see how much and if it's more often.
I could have really gone crazy on that one family with that one little jerk, but I see that my mess would not have given me any satisfaction.
The day after the tournament, the head coach Diego texted the whole team and said that the Crames coach had reached out because one of our Canucks had written a mean post on Instagram about the Crames. He posted in the chat a copy of what all kids had signed. The code of conduct for in person and for in social media. He pointed out that it is a dismissible offense and that the posted should be taken down and that the child should come talk to Diego. DRAMA!!!
Later on in the day, another post popped up on the team chat saying THOSE ARE EMMAS!!!!
J'acuse!!!!!
OMG, someone has just straight up pointed to Emma as the rude social medial poster. I'm going to pop some popcorn. Lets go! This is going to be good......
I texted Miranda Johnson... Did you see! OMG, did you see the post, who is it! Whats going on!!!
Miranda said look at the post. That was about someone leaving shoes at the gym the day before. Aw..... nuts.... I was so excited for all the drama.
I am really enjoying being a grade 7 girl again. So much fun.
On monday, after the tournament and the gold medals, this is what I came into. The life thinks I can handle way more than I think I can handle.
4 inches of water covering the whole buildings ground floor. Where did we keep that insurance policy....
