Girls Volleyball Team

by Beth
(Pennsylvania)

I like playing volleyball and I made the girls volleyball team. However, I have one small problem. I'm short. I'm not even five feet tall. Usually people associate volleyball players with being tall. Just like basketball players. The problem at my high school was that there were only 40 people in my class. In the winter, the choices of sports were basketball, volleyball, and swimming. The coaches all picked the best athletes for basketball. That's how I ended up on the volleyball team. I don't like jumping into cold water, so swimming wasn't an option. The volleyball team got the short end of the stick, literally. Sports weren't the focus at my all-girls private school, so we were not the best bunch of athletes to begin with. Somehow, we managed to win a few games. Our coach made us run and get into shape. We learned strategies and systems, which most of us were very unfamiliar with. As the shortest person, I was the setter. Although it was tough to block the ball, I learned to distribute the ball to the other players and the other slightly taller people did the rest of the work. A girl who played tennis had a great serve and the tallest person did her best at spiking the ball. We did our best when we played other small all-girl school. It was fun to win a few times, but most importantly, we learned teamwork and how to compensate for our deficiencies. Team sports help to learn how to deal with issues, how to work with others, and how to use your strengths to help others. The girls volleyball team was a great experience.