The last few weeks have been both exhausting and exciting.
MVESD #16’s two week break at the end of September started
with Mom and Dad’s Trip West. It was a ton of fun to hang out, to host my
parents (weird) and to see Mom’s reaction to a lot of things out here…especially
the scale. Everything out here is so much bigger, so much wider…you do have to
see it to believe it. They went to Bryce and Zion as I finished up my
Structured English Immersion class in Scottsdale, then we alternated between
things to do in/around Bullhead (oh, another brewery?) and longer trips to the
Grand Canyon and Death Valley. It was really a lot of fun, and I’m glad we
planned it for the week we did…since the government went ahead and shut down
the following week and we wouldn’t have been able to do half of what we
planned.
The second week of break found me staying home as much as
possible. The end of first quarter was tiring, as it saw me in and out of
Scottsdale, up late for softball games in the league I joined, and coaching my
tail off. That rolled right into the first week of second quarter, and then it
was off to Phoenix again. Eric was staying in town for a few days, so I headed
south and we spent an afternoon hanging out and generally having a good time.
Every Phoenix/Scottsdale trip included a trip to Waffle House. The last one…well,
shades of Toby Keith!
That I met at a Waffle House diner.
He said the years seem to roll on faster
Than they did back when we were kids
Then we need us a break from the grindstone
That's exactly what we did.
We put in a phone call to Sonny
Then we stayed out all night long
We drank a few cold ones, then told a few old ones
And sang another verse to the song."
The song's called Nights I Can't Remember...Friends I'll Never Forget
Finally, and a little off topic...
As the volleyball season rolls to a close, and I begin
prepping for boys basketball, now seems like a great time to reflect on the
season that was. Coming into the season, I didn’t have the greatest volleyball
IQ in the world, but I worked hard to learn as much as possible. We conditioned.
We did drills. We learned how to play as a team, to bump and set and pass to
one another to control where we hit the ball. Every player on the team
improved, some growing into our best players after having little to no
experience before this season. I am tremendously proud of my players for how
hard they’ve worked, and how positive they’ve stayed, and how they never, ever
quit no matter the score. We have won exactly one match. But we have only been
blown out twice. We competed in every game, had chances to win in every game,
and they grew from that experience. I have gotten used to losing (STR baseball,
Presby softball over the last few years), but that doesn’t mean I love it. I have
worked very hard to stay positive…7th grade sports is about
development, improvement, and laying the foundation for a winning 8th
grade team as they get ready to roll into high school. I have been very lucky
this season, privileged, to coach a team of athletes who have chosen to come
together and support one another, to help each other improve, throughout what
has been a tough season.
Hats off to you. And thanks for the experience.
