Coaching

The past four months of my non-work life has been filled with my favorite past time: volleyball.  This experience, however, has been in a completely different capacity than normal.  Instead of playing, I've been co-coaching two 12u club teams.  It has been such a blast!  

I went into the season excited to teach a little bit of volleyball skills to 18 young girls.  Little did I know how much they would teach me, or how much my goals would change throughout the season! I learned that success is not about the skills of volleyball, it's:

• keeping an attention span for more than 5 minutes
• having a team huddle with no one commenting about coach's jewelry,  biting someone else's hand, or singing
• having 16 girls in my house to make their own pizzas without burning down the house, breaking or spilling anything
• no one saying "I can't"
• seeing their face light up when they finally understand what I'm trying to say
• making it through practice without complaining
• not hearing "can I go to the bathroom?" when we're about to start a game
• no one asking "are we winning?", "is this the first game?", or "when will this be over?"
• hearing "Okay, Coach!"
• getting a smile out of a frustrated player
• remembering the difference between a job and a position
• being close to almost-in-base
• yelling "free ball" even if we don't transition
• making it through a game without making animal noises
• serving over the net
• getting a pass-set-hit
• giving 100% effort
• cheering when we do something right
• working together as a team
• having fun

No matter the definition of success, it's been fun.  We went out with a bang, with one team finishing second in their division and the other taking first in theirs - I'm so proud of all of them! Thanks, girls for a great season!

Mid-Valley 12u Black
Jordan (16), Jenna (7), Jasmine (6), Falute (3), Sydney, Megan (9), Sydney (2), Rhyan (4), Taylor (23), and Coach Trish

Mid-Valley 12u Gold
Paris (13), Gwen (1), Anna, Lexi(8), Me, Riley(15), Megan(14), Taylor(5), Caleigh(12), and Mikayla (11)

Both teams (minus the Taylors) at my house for a pizza party

Painting

I tried my hand at painting recently... I was actually pretty pleased with the outcome!  Inspired by their nursery theme, I used acrylics on 12 x 12 canvases to paint a seahorse and turtle for my friends' new baby:

Krissa taught me some easy tricks to make it go smoother.. First, I printed out a picture of the pictures from babies r us.  Then, I drew a grid on the picture so that it was split into equal squares.  I then made a grid on a 12 x 12 piece of paper and copied the picture square by square:

After that, you can shade the entire back of the paper with a heavy layer of pencil.  Place the paper on top of the canvas, and trace the outline of the picture, then paint the corresponding colors!

Congratulations, Katie & Brandon!