Saturday the 22nd
I was thinking back in the last year and some of the good and the bad that we had in our lives. I think the trip to Florida was just really good over-all. There are always going to be the downs and the challenges when you are driving from one coast to the other - something about getting through the challenges and seeing the joy and the positives let you know that the trip was more than worth it. There was a lot of talking to be had, a lot of sights to see and the realization that this is a very big country we have. It was the kind of trip we had wanted to take with the kids for quite a few years which is why we tried as hard as we did each year to go. We really wanted the girls to see some of the beauty in the country, and get some sense of how living in other places for something like College would be a pretty great thing. But for whatever reason, it was never meant to be until it just was. After our trip to New Hampshire in the Spring, Sydney was pretty sure where she wanted to be and so she stayed home for College. After our trip in June, they both see the potential of Grad/Nursing school happening somewhere other than here as a possibility, not a tragedy.
Anyway, the day we got to our hotel in Orlando, we got a message from a parent saying that one of the girl’s who was on her team was sick and didn’t get on the plane from LA. This only surprised the coaches and a couple of the parents. She had been openly telling the team she didn’t want to go to FL so wouldn’t be going to FL. Most of the team and families learned after they landed in Florida, we were the only ones who drove… so definitely no turning back.
We were down two girls now. We already had a senior that refused to come and her parents let us all know early on. Now we were done the one that wasn’t going to come but her parents were telling everyone - No, we’re coming. Down to seven with one girl who brought her sister so that we had eight. We went 3-0 day one and that night the sisters backed out too. On Day two we stepped into the court with six players. My Libero was hitting and blocking and our middle blockers were passing and digging. We went 0-3, but those were all close losses and we were very close to winning, but w they were still trying to figure out how to play new positions. Day three, we watched the girls start to settle into their new roles and start to get things under control. The girls went 2-1.
By Day Four, the girls were pretty beat up and very tired. Backs, shoulders and knees were starting to ache. For her part, my kid had hit her hand on the floor so hard she had a massive bruise on her palm and pain down her pinkie. After a walk around the convention center I found the trainers and we had them tape her hand up to give her some padding and support.
Day Four is Play-off day. Lose and you’re done. The losers have to ref the next game and then they get to leave. We usually start early, but for some reason we had a late start. After waiting around, the girls managed to win the first game. We families were excited and a little surprised. We knew they had the skill and talent, we just weren’t sure they could play through the exhaustion. And then, in the second game my girl went on a serving run that hyped them up and carried them through to a win. She was so cute, she told me that as the girls were huddled after that win, they were looking at each other like - “so, are we doing this then?” And they all were looking at each other going, ”Uh, yeah - I think we are”.
Every game, the girls came together and there was always a couple girls who would come up big and be the spark for the others. There was concern about flights to catch and we were all worried that the girls would come this far and have to forfeit because one girl had to catch her flight. But she put all the girls (and us parents) at ease when she laughingly told them that her mom said to just play, they’d worry about the flight later! Haha. Go Mom!
Final match and the fourth game of the day. Watched Sydney have a couple off passes and was wondering what the Heck… my kid may get tired but not sloppy - she trains more and harder than any other player on the team. But then I looked at her wrapped hand and remembered - oh yeah, her hand. But she got a block, had a couple hits and even a kill. She served well, and worked harder to ignore that hand and pass better. And when the last ball fell for the last point - our mighty six were the ones cheering the loudest and the proudest in a relatively quiet convention center. We weren’t the last teams playing, but we were pretty close to it.
The girls won first place in the Pearl Division. At the end of the day, they each came away with ribbons for them and a plague for their Club. When we left for Florida, we went hunting for medals. Things went sideways and maybe the girls didn’t have medals put around the necks, but they were handed ribbons and an announcer made the shocking revelation that they took their ribbon with only six players. That’s impressive and definitely one for the memory books. In a year with mostly disappointments, my girl walked out of that convention center with pride in all that she and her team had overcome and achieved together.
Eric and I hugged each other tight as emotions rode high and hard as we took a few minutes to accept the end of Club Volleyball in our house. From the weekends that were dedicated to volleyball and all the events that were scheduled around it…that ended that day and it was as sad as it was full of pride and love for the girls that brought us on that journey.
And so now time for new adventures and different journey’s.
31For21 Blog Challenge for Down Syndrome Awareness and Acceptance. It’s always about the journey.
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