Most of our weekends these past couple months have been consumed by volleyball or trampoline.
Volleyball has been a beast! We had no idea what we were getting into and its been way too much! I thought I was signing up for snack mom, but when I had to attend a meeting for that position, I wondered what I had gotten into. After that meeting and the "list" of things I was responsible for I decided it wasn't for me. The goal was to tailgate at these all day tournaments and provide a hot meal to the girls and their families....CRAZY! I guess its a volleyball thing.
We should've ran when they switched the coach on us the night of signing. She loved, loved, loved who her coach was going to be and her new one is young and has a bit to learn. She is playing with several girls who have grown up playing volleyball and her learning curve has had to be tremendous. Playing time isn't necessarily based on your ability....there's a political component and that has been frustrating for Ainsley. She is used to sports where your performance is all you got. So, she hasn't played as much as she would like and when she does play, there's so much feedback and she usually hears the negative, so we've watched her love of volleyball and her confidence go down significantly. I got involved and tried to help the situation which I do believe was necessary and helpful, but told her she needs to stand up for herself and I'm out. She has been doing a better job, but is so terrified to talk to her coach. It's been a great learning experience and I'm hoping she can take that out of it at least. We are about half way through the season and she has been getting more positive feedback lately from her coach and other parents, but her teammates most of all. She has been enjoying her teammates a lot! School volleyball starts in a week, so that will be interesting to see if we can juggle it all. She is super excited about school because she will be able to have fun!
Trampoline is our safe haven! I know when she goes there, she will be mentally and physically o.k. Its hard not to start questioning if we are the problem, but when we have examples of sports and us not getting involved because things are the way they should be, it is a good reality check! She has her level 8 skills on 2 events now, so will be competing one of those next weekend and maybe the other the following week. She was in the belt last night working on doublebacks, both front and back!
She finished with a 1st place on Double Mini and Trampoline and a 2nd place for Tumbling.
