Day 20: Blog Challenge for Down Syndrome Awareness - 31 for 21!!!
What a day! So again, Facebook popped up with memories for me today, I might have mentioned that I love them. Along with all the amazing Buddy Walk pictures and memories that are popping up, there are of course blog posts as I have been doing this for a few years now. I thought today's memory of a certain blog post was quite apropos.
Today two years ago, we were living in San Diego, wondering where the Heck we were supposed to be now that life had thrown yet another wrench into the plans we had made. Eric had hurt his knee and with Navy Medicine being amazing unless you are Retired...we were beginning to see a very dim light of potential for the Police Department. As for other work...really difficult to find the work that would give us the kind of pay we needed to rent our own place and keep the kids in their schools.
A bright spot for us was the Sundays we spent in the free basketball clinic that the girls played in. Today, two years ago, I was writing about that clinic, mostly about that coach that spent some extra time to coach and teach Sydney. That coach that assessed a situation and made a change to put a player on her team that he knew would not discriminate because she was a girl, and would keep working to help bring out the competitor in her. That coach found the Basketball player inside Sydney that was a little afraid to play with the boys. His son, made sure she played and didn't have to be told by his dad to pass her the ball. It was about acceptance and kids who love the game, playing the game together. We were grateful and humbled and so very pleased!
And on to today. Although Madison still loves Basketball, she is not going to try out this year, though I think she should. Not knowing the coach, knowing a couple of the snootier freshman girls playing, Madison is not willing to put herself in the same position she had with Volleyball, it's just too much. Sydney didn't try out because she refused to miss her Volleyball game. Priorities in place, a coach shouldn't hold tryouts during another sport's game. That sucks. But she told me that she is more focused on Volleyball right now anyway. I said sure, whatever you want. Although softball is not off the table, that's a discussion for Spring as we see what they actually have time for, hmmm.
So today was another Volleyball game for Sydney's Middle School team. There are some pretty new at the sport girls, and though we see huge steps in improvement every game, we don't see much winning. But that's truly okay. We have one 8th grader, the rest are 7th graders, with a couple 6th graders. So we have lots of room to grow and keep improving. Believe me when I say, this year is a lot of fun. These girls are really cute, and they get so excited. Their ACE cheer for a serve that can't be passed is like two minutes long and really well choreographed, they get their game play down like that and they will be unstoppable! Like I said, they are really cute.
They have won a game twice but lost the Set. Until tonight, tonight they won their first Set in two games straight. It was really exciting! I had hoped it would happen at least once but was not very sure about it, until I watched them start gaining momentum in their first game. And I am proud to say that my daughter was a big part of this win tonight, but I am thrilled to say I am really proud of her contributions on and off the court.
Sydney is a pretty good player, and if you really want to know the truth, she is one of the best on the team. Her area of serving was lacking, for some reason she is over thinking her serve, worrying about it, something...so that she isn't getting her overhand serve over consistently. Every other area she is ranked at the top. And let me tell, this is the weirdest position I have ever been in in my life. Usually it was our kid on the bench getting subbed in for a few minutes of playing time on the courts; until, Madison's last year of Basketball, she started getting more and more play time. Still,watching your daughter taking the court as a starter is disconcerting and wonderful all at once. I'm that mom that cheers for everyone, so I am still cheering for everyone, but it's weird to be cheering for my kid all the time. She gets subbed out very rare, usually the other girls are the ones who get subbed. It's not like she isn't working for it either though, we spend quite a bit of time working on her skills here at home.
Still, it was a bitter pill to swallow when the coach asked her to serve underhand. We had a few tears over it, but I tried to be honest with her, making her see that the coach needs something from her, that her team needs something from her. So tonight she served underhand and rattled of seven or eight points to win the second game and complete the win of the Set. Their first win for her school and Sydney finished out the scoring, Like I said, it was really exciting.
But it is her behavior off and on the court that I am truly proud of. Sydney is a starter, and though it's rare, the coaches will sometimes sub her out. She comes to the side with a smile, she may not be happy about subbIng out, but she doesn't show that. She encourages her teammate, takes the chance to get water and then cheers on her team. She holds herself to very high standards and lately, when I talk with her I hear a strong competitive spirit come out. It's interesting to say the least. On the court she's a leader, she is encouraging her team, a missed play and she's working with her teammate to fix that area of a problem. Good plays and she's celebrating, bad plays, she is picking them up.
So yeah, she served out the last seven points to win the game and set, or match, that's what we always called them. But she was in the game, playing the game and pushing herself and others to be the best they could be, and it paid off tonight. I always love watching my kids play, tonight I loved watching her overcome how she felt about not serving overhand well enough and choosing to be a team player and serve underhand. She put the team first and it paid off for her in huge ways. I am so proud of this kid and who she is, the fact that she is a pretty good ball player and for this year at least, she's a starter is a nice perk. But life is fickle, and we know that really hard work is the only way she stays where she's at. But time will tell, and for now, we're loving watching our kid play volleyball - showing us deeper glimpses into the kind of person she will grow into being once she's an adult.
Acceptance is a beautiful thing. Her coach coming up after the game to tell her she is amazing is just the coolest thing to hear, but pretty cool too was seeing her coach run over to give Bradley knuckles because she loves seeing him at the games. Seeing Sydney's team gather around her and hug her because they won and her serves did it...beyond sweet! Good job #8!!! I love you Kid!!!
Happy Thursday night everyone!!
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