Volleyball is the 5th most popular sport globally. It’s a long, thrilling sport that leaves most people in awe watching it. I was one of those people. When I first saw volleyball in 4th grade, I didn’t really care much about it because I thought volleyball was just a sport for girls, while boys played soccer. Until the 6th grade, when even though I played a lot of soccer, I tended to be bored a lot. So one day I decided to ask one of my friends (who is a girl) to let me have a chance to let me play volleyball, and of course she said yes. And so that was my first time playing volleyball. I sucked at it. I always missed the ball and always, and I mean ALWAYS, gave it to the wrong person. But that one time that I played volleyball gave me the passion for it from the start. I played a lot of volleyball during my recess time at my middle school with my friend. I was getting a little better at the start, but not as great as my 7th-grade year of middle school. In the summer before 7th grade, I played volleyball with my friends, and I improved greatly. I learned how to bump the ball and set it to another person. But I’m still lacking some skills in volleyball, like diving, spiking, and serving. At the start of my 7th grade year, I was really confident that I could compete in a volleyball match. I was humbled immensely by losing 25 – 14 in one of the matches I played in. That match really affected me, thinking that my skills weren’t enough and that was the reason we lost that game. But I soon got myself together, saying that it’s just one match. Why would one match affect me so badly? So I kept going, trying to be better every day with my friends. So when I finished 7th grade and went to High Jump, I started playing with my friends over there also, and I progressed greatly, now learning how to serve, dive for the ball, and block. One day, my friends and I decided to go against another group of friends for a volleyball match, and at the start I was playing decently, serving the ball, the other team diving for it and getting the ball, bumping and setting the ball. I haven’t gotten a proper block yet. But after 5 minutes of playing, I became a great player, no, like really great. My serves were so good that half of the time the other team lost the ball. Also, when the other team served, I tried to dive for the ball, and I got it perfectly half of the time. This one time, though, was probably the best moment of my time playing volleyball. There was this one kid whose spikes and serves were really strong. I saw one of my teammates getting a red mark while trying to dive for the ball from that person. Anyways, he was going for a spike, and I went for a block. I was locked into his eyes for a moment before his spike got blocked by one of my hands. And it deflected from my hands into the other team’s court. I was really happy, and my teammates were happy too. He was actually shocked when I blocked one of his powerful spikes. When the game was over, I was really proud that I did something that really benefited the team so much. At the start of 8th grade, I was really nervous that it was my last year in middle school and the last time I got to play volleyball with my friends. So I made the most of it. I played volleyball for most of my time there. Most of the time, I’m the best player on a team or one of the best players on the team. My serves became harder, and my position as a libero is insane. Always trying to get a serve from a powerful opponent and pass it to another player. I was at my peak in volleyball. When 8th grade ended, I graduated from my middle school. I’m still an active participant in volleyball. I walked to the field with my buddies to have mini tournaments and to have an enjoyable time. Right now I’m in a summer program, and I don’t really get a lot of chances to go outside and play because of homework. Volleyball has made me meet new people, try new playstyles, and overall have fun. In the future, I want to be a volleyball player on a team and play in big matches. Overall, volleyball is the passion that I want to follow for as long as I can. I just love how volleyball is played and the people who play it. I want to gain more skills that will aid me in high school (I also want to get taller for volleyball. I want to be that type of person that people will remember for that one block from a powerful spiker or the ssetter thatset the ball to the spiker for the winning game score. But that’s in the future. But what you can do right now as your reading this (or later) you can go outside and pursue your dream of becoming a famous soccer player or a legendary basketball player, whatever it is, follow it and maybe one day your gonna be that person on TV who after years and years of hardworking and never giving up, is waving at the camera, smiling that you have made it to your passion that you had been chasing. For your entire life.
Jose Garcia – Latin School of Chicago – DMSF Class of 2030
Photo Credit: janoazs – Pixabay