Yesterday I wrote about my life going round and round in circles. Today, I am reminded just how true that theory really is but in a totally different way than I meant it in my previous post. Everything ends up coming back around again.
Six years ago, I started coaching high school volleyball for the league I played in when I was in high school. The league is mainly for fun but can get competitive. My first two years, I had a team of juniors/seniors who I really enjoyed coaching. After the second season with the same team, my kids graduated so I wasn’t quite sure who my next team would be. The logical thing to do would be to start with a team of freshman that I would be able to coach year after year until they were seniors. I was half right.
I got a group of junior girls and boys with a handful of freshman boys mixed in. Well that team had a lot of issues! As you can imagine the juniors, who had been playing for a few years now, were at a much higher skill level while the freshman had absolutely no idea what they were doing. This created major controversy because the older kids wanted to win or at least be competitive and the younger ones just wanted to play around. The maturity level was also a huge roadblock when it came to bringing the team together as a cohesive unit.
So the following year, my team was split up because of the age differences and I was given my juniors kids that were now in their senior year along with other players who were also seniors. I loved that team! They played well together and wanted to win. We went to the final four of the league playoffs and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of kids that year but like all seniors, they graduated after that season.
So when I went to the first practice of the next year, I was once again convinced I would get freshman but I was surprised when I was given another team of seniors. This team was very different than my last senior team. In their junior season, my new team lost practically every game they played. By the end of their senior season, the team had a solid winning record, played great together, and the least likely players became that allstars of the team. I had another wonderful year and it was an honor to get to coach that group of kids. However, yet another team moved on to college.
Last night I walked into the gym for the first practice of another season with the same mindset I have had in the past. I had been waiting on that rebuilding year but apparently another team had been waiting for me. Those same freshman boys that I coached all those years ago had become seniors and apparently in their minds when you reach your senior year, you get the opportunity to have me as your volleyball coach. Why they would want that, I honestly have no idea but for some reason they did and now all I have to say is here we go again!
Like I said when I started this entry, life comes full circle. I taught these kids the basics that first year and now I get to finish what I started. I’ve watched them grow up over the other years and I’m honestly not sure how far they have come but I’m about to find out as yet another volleyball season comes to start. The interesting thing is that I thought this year might be my last so ironically when these boys graduate, I might be moving on as well. We’ll see…
“What goes around, comes around.” - Proverb
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