Teach Me!

For the past 4 months I've had the incredible privilege to coach a varsity high school team. What once was a path I never though I would take has become something I look forward to all day long and I can't get enough of! I love having the opportunity to share my passion and insights for the game of volleyball... I love seeing the progress of the girls and when the light bulb goes off... I love breaking skills down and helping them add new skills to their 'toolbox'... I love helping them understand the big strategic picture and ebbs and flows of the game... I love it when the girls pick my brain and want to know and do more to get better... I love knowing that I can make a difference in the girls' lives not only as a volleyball coach and player, but as a person... When it comes down to it, I love to teach!

My Regional Champions! (I guess they have learned something!)
Let's hope their development continues in the
State Quarterfinals tomorrow!

I can still remember my first practice with the girls and the discomfort I felt when our head coach threw me in to run a drill with a group of girls where I knew not one name! But once relationships were formed and I observed each girls' talents and skill-set, I was and am able to demand more out of them because I can see the potential that lies within. This is perfect for my observant, detail-oriented self as I have a knack for identifying what needs fixing or improving or refining and can give them the instruction and facilitate the drills necessary to change.

However, I've found the most frustrating part of teaching and coaching is that I have little control over the speed of development of my players. I can tell a girl over and over and over to "reach high" or "get your feet to the ball" or "press fast on the block" (hmm, maybe some things I myself heard as a player...!) but until they not only hear but also apply it - rather than just saying "I know, I know" - my words and wisdom seem somewhat futile! The delivery can be different, the drill to practice can be a little different, the demonstration can be different, the coach saying it can be different... but the skill itself that needs to be improved never changes. And until the knowledge and content that we as coaches are sharing takes root in the player, the result will also never change. From my experience as a coach, learning and improvement are just as dependent on the knowledge, preparedness, and patience of the teacher as they are on the adaptability and willingness to listen and apply by the student.

How true that is in my spiritual walk as well!

Now, I can blame not using my blog for the last 5 months on my new and different, busy lifestyle... or not having anything good to write about... or that I frankly became intimidated because it had been so long... But when it comes down to it, I wasn't really learning. At least I wasn't being intentional with my learning and applying - the very thing I proposed my blog would help me do! God can only remind me through church, bible class, songs on the radio, friends, or my own conscious so many times that HE is the only one who can satisfy and fill my heart... that HE is the One for whom and by whom all things I do and have can be... that HE desires to spend time with me in His word... that HE will provide all of my needs and I have no reason to worry about anything... that HE has me in this position in life for a special reason and purpose... that HE has a home for me prepared in heaven and wants me to prepare for it now while on earth. And how many times do I just nod and say, "I know, Lord, I know."? Sadly, too many times to count.

The beautiful thing is that He doesn't get impatient and frustrated like I do when my girls give me that response yet don't change. Rather, "you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" (Psalm 86:15). Praise God that he is the Good Teacher - the BEST Teacher! So good and loving of a teacher, that He actually does all of the work for me! So patient of a teacher, that He knows every area of my life where I continually stumble and that needs improvement yet comes to the rescue and still loves me 100% of the time! So faithful of a teacher, that He laid down His life for mine, so that I never need to doubt his love or faithfulness or devotion to me despite my faults and failures. Instead I can humbly come before Him and confess that I'm not a good student but really do desire to learn. So, "Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees... You are my portion, O Lord... and Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path in life... May my body and life be a living sacrifice that his holy and pleasing to you as my act of worship and thanks."

The Sparty Not Top 10 Countdown

When I started The Sparty Countdown, I premised it saying how I was partly inspired by SportsCenter's Top 10 and that I actually enjoyed the Not Top 10 the most. I thought that concluding my Countdown of the top 10 things I will miss most from college with the top 10 things I will miss the least would be a fun and funny way to sign off (and probably make it a whole lot easier to bid farewell!). So here goes, my Sparty NOT Top 10:

10. The anxiety felt before a summer run when you can see the heat rising from the 100 degree turf and the sun is beating on your back. I came to love the competition of the runs... but that feeling before they started? Will not for a second miss that.

9. Getting around campus. If you're a driver, you hate walkers. If you're a walker, you hate drivers. If you're a biker, well, good luck. Doing any of this in the winter when the sidewalks haven't been shoveled and salt hasn't been thrown... ha, that's funny. Getting around on campus always provided either some comical relief if you were the observer or near-death experiences if you were caught in the crossfire.

8. Not always knowing what's going on for volleyball. Being a big time planner and overly organized, the fact that information was frequently never shared until the last minute drove me crazy! I'm not going to miss feeling like I'm not in the loop for events in my own life.

7. Homework and Exams and Textbooks. Woo-hoo! No more papers! No more studying! Hopefully no more homework-like deadlines that get the best of my procrastination out! No more having work to do after work!

6. "An Unwise Business Decision" - aka getting punished in the weight room after going to see the midnight show of Harry Potter. Come to find out, our strength coach thought that our being out till 3am meant we were up to some shenanigans, hence the harsh DF+3 on every single exercise. It was just a movie premiere during the summer!

5. The typical college students' disregard for others. Vandalization... Theft (of 3 of my locked up bikes!)... Filth... Thumping, annoying basses blaring during the week... This I can live without.

4. Those dreadful, hard volleyball-drills - particularly Key Drill and 2-Person Pit. For those of you who know what they are... you know the dread, the pain, the fear of those weekly days in practice or worse yet when they were a sneak attack and caught you off guard. Eeeeh, stomachs and faces always dropped upon hearing those words!

3. 2-a-days and not being able to move because I'm so sore. Those 2 weeks were always so painful... sports bra sweat burns, sore hips and legs and elbows and shoulders, having to waddle up stairs, forcing myself to wash my hair because of the tired and sore arms... Now I will only be sore when I feel like it! Of course I'll still work out, but no need to train that hard and get that unbearably sore!

2. Packing up and moving all the time, especially during preseason. I hate packing and moving enough as it is, but to inevitably have to do it during every single preseason was the worst. Especially since it needed to be done during our breaks (which were typically used for naps in between 2-a-days). Poor timing for one of the worst activities.

1. MSU PARKING. They could have easily taken up the Not Top 10 all by themselves. They're Nazi's. Good luck ever trying to fight an unjust ticket or run into a building for 2 minutes without getting one or parking for class or a meeting when any event is taking place on campus. MSU Parking... I will not miss you!

How lucky am I, that when I get to come back and visit MSU and the people I love, I won't have to worry about these things! Things that I may be able look back on and laugh at... and things that may have helped me get tougher and stronger... but things that always filled me with a little dread and were never enjoyable in the moment. :)