Volleyball
8/20/19
Volleyball has become a big part of my life ever since I started playing a couple of years ago on my school team in Saudi Arabia. When I moved to Lebanon, I joined a club team as well as my school team in order to ameliorate my skills. However, along with commitment comes many sacrifices as well. There are many instances throughout my volleyball journey where I had to sacrifice going out with my friends or participating in recreational activities like camping, hiking trips, or beach days in order to attend my team volleyball training. Although sometimes I questioned why I was so obligated to commit to a sport I was not going to pursue as a career later on, the chemistry and the love I have created with my teammates reminded me why everything was worth it. The love I have developed for this sport has made all other sacrifices seem very minor.
9/1/19
I have made so many improvements compared to the first day I joined my volleyball team. I have been practicing non-stop on the required skill-sets for this sport such as spiking, receiving, serving, etc. Although there were sometimes where I felt that my commitment to this team was difficult and that my improvements were slowing down and so I repeatedly asked myself "what was the point?" I knew I had to keep persevering. My coach once told me that "in any sport that you play, your improvement is modeled in the shape of a ladder: at first you will improve and climb up a few steps. But after a while, you will also fall back a few steps along the way, it's inevitable. However, once you fall down, it is very important that you keep going. Because after that stage is over, you will find that you have climbed even higher than where you were before falling down." Explaining this metaphor to me has helped me in more ways than I could have ever imagined. It has helped me numerous times when I found myself very frustrated at myself for falling back a few steps with my volleyball skills, but later on, just as he explained, I found myself with even more improvements than the last time. All I had to do was to keep going no matter the barriers in my way. This metaphor has even stuck with me in other instances in life, like when I was going through a tough time and felt like nothing was going right, remembering this metaphor has reminded me that everything will be okay and maybe will even be better than it was before.
13/5/20
The coronavirus crisis led many public gyms, theatres, malls, stores, etc. to close to reduce the spread of the virus. This also meant I could not train for volleyball with my team (the October and May tournaments also got canceled). On the bright side, I am trying my best to stay active at home by making my own workouts that are similar to the ones I do for volleyball conditioning. I miss my team and the joy that volleyball brought. I hope this will be over soon and that everyone stays safe during this crisis so we could start playing as a team again!
Learning Outcomes Achieved:
LO4: Show commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences
By committing to my volleyball team, I had to sacrifice many things along the way. However, perseverance towards my goal to improve and to eventually win the Lebanese Tournament made these sacrifices worth it.
LO5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
Being on a team that loves and supports me helped me persevere even further than I expected, no matter the obstacles ahead of me. It made me realize one of the many benefits of working with the right type of people who will always push you to improve.
Volleyball has become a big part of my life ever since I started playing a couple of years ago on my school team in Saudi Arabia. When I moved to Lebanon, I joined a club team as well as my school team in order to ameliorate my skills. However, along with commitment comes many sacrifices as well. There are many instances throughout my volleyball journey where I had to sacrifice going out with my friends or participating in recreational activities like camping, hiking trips, or beach days in order to attend my team volleyball training. Although sometimes I questioned why I was so obligated to commit to a sport I was not going to pursue as a career later on, the chemistry and the love I have created with my teammates reminded me why everything was worth it. The love I have developed for this sport has made all other sacrifices seem very minor.
9/1/19
I have made so many improvements compared to the first day I joined my volleyball team. I have been practicing non-stop on the required skill-sets for this sport such as spiking, receiving, serving, etc. Although there were sometimes where I felt that my commitment to this team was difficult and that my improvements were slowing down and so I repeatedly asked myself "what was the point?" I knew I had to keep persevering. My coach once told me that "in any sport that you play, your improvement is modeled in the shape of a ladder: at first you will improve and climb up a few steps. But after a while, you will also fall back a few steps along the way, it's inevitable. However, once you fall down, it is very important that you keep going. Because after that stage is over, you will find that you have climbed even higher than where you were before falling down." Explaining this metaphor to me has helped me in more ways than I could have ever imagined. It has helped me numerous times when I found myself very frustrated at myself for falling back a few steps with my volleyball skills, but later on, just as he explained, I found myself with even more improvements than the last time. All I had to do was to keep going no matter the barriers in my way. This metaphor has even stuck with me in other instances in life, like when I was going through a tough time and felt like nothing was going right, remembering this metaphor has reminded me that everything will be okay and maybe will even be better than it was before.
13/5/20
The coronavirus crisis led many public gyms, theatres, malls, stores, etc. to close to reduce the spread of the virus. This also meant I could not train for volleyball with my team (the October and May tournaments also got canceled). On the bright side, I am trying my best to stay active at home by making my own workouts that are similar to the ones I do for volleyball conditioning. I miss my team and the joy that volleyball brought. I hope this will be over soon and that everyone stays safe during this crisis so we could start playing as a team again!
Learning Outcomes Achieved:
LO4: Show commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences
By committing to my volleyball team, I had to sacrifice many things along the way. However, perseverance towards my goal to improve and to eventually win the Lebanese Tournament made these sacrifices worth it.
LO5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
Being on a team that loves and supports me helped me persevere even further than I expected, no matter the obstacles ahead of me. It made me realize one of the many benefits of working with the right type of people who will always push you to improve.
Comments
Post a Comment