State Volleyball

Yesterday we went to Cedar Rapids to watch Pleasant Valley play volleyball at the state tournament. It was really fun to see some of the girls we used to coach along with their parents. It's crazy to think that they're seniors and the last we had contact with them, they were 8th graders!! We were a little disappointed to see that many of the girls we coached weren't on the team anymore. When we inquired as to the reason, we found that they had been cut as 9th graders. I was sad, because these kids were such great girls and pretty decent volleyball players if you ask me. I also found out that they are now having 7th and 8th graders try-out for the traveling team, so basically if you don't make it in 7th grade, you have no chance at high school volleyball.

This whole scenario got me thinking about how thankful I am that I grew up in a small town where everyone got a chance to do everything and there was no one trying to persuade you to "concentrate" on one sport and let the rest go. I didn't touch a volleyball until the summer before 7th grade when I realized that I should probably learn how before going out for the team. I ended up being 2nd team all conference by my senior year. If I had gone to a bigger school, I never would have been given that chance. I also played basketball and tennis all throughout high school. My best friend Julie did all of the above along with being in the band and playing softball in the summer!

There are definitely some positive aspects of bigger schools like better class selection, less cliques, more choices for things to do, etc. but I think if I had a choice, I'd rather Max and Mya go to a school like Decorah. I won't have any problem if they're not the stars of the team, but I want them to be involved in everything they want to be. Unfortunately, there aren't many John Deere factories in small towns:) Anyway...those are my thoughts on that. Kind of random, I know.