College Volleyball Marathon

When your DD has the fever, feed it. Begging me to skip the Mariners game and eat $40 worth of tickets (ultimately a good request as the Mariners crawled weakly to a 1-0 defeat) Maddie asked if we could PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE drive the 90 minutes up I-5 to see Western Washington University scrimmage against Fresno Pacific. And when your DD just made varsity, walks around the house holding a volleyball, practices her approach in the parking lot at Safeway, and regularly chats via Facebook with members of both the Vikings and the Huskies, what do you say? You say LET'S GO! WWU does indeed have a beautiful campus, and even though the gym was built about 60 years ago, there's a good vibe there. We enjoyed the scrimmage, Maddie got to spend a couple of minutes with her friend on the team, and she showed dad around the campus (she was there for a camp this summer).

Of course, by this time, dad was famished, so off we went to Skagit Brewing for some wings and a nice IPA on the deck. Maddie had neither wings OR IPA in case you were wondering. And it was there, basking in the glow of fresh hops that Maddie suggested we head straight to UW to catch the 7 pm match against Eastern. My response: LETS GO! So there we were in Section 10 watching the Huskies and Maddie's pal Jenna Haglund dismantle the Eagles in 3 straight. Back across the bridge and home watching preseason games on the DVR by 9. What a day. Good call, DD. Feed the fever.

Reaching Her Goal

Maddie. Starting Right Side Hitter for the Varsity at Kangaroo High. Sounds good! She was all smiles when we showed up for the HS Parents and Sports night. Coach had not named the team until the end of practice tonight. 15 person squad and DD is one of only 3 sophomores to make Varsity. So, all is happy tonight. I think it's a great opportunity for her to work every day with girls older than she is and get some good competition on game days. Really like what our new coach is bringing to the program; lots of parents are going to be involved with different things...I wanted to be the Hair Ribbon Coordinator, but finally offered to help take and coordinate pictures (which I love doing anyway) and even signed up to be a line judge at the big all conference Jamboree on the 7th. She really worked hard all summer to improve her volleyball skills and I'm very gratified that she has learned that hard work often pays off. She says her new goal is to keep that starting position. Looking forward to competition! My Mondays and Wednesdays are booked for the next 2 months. :)

High School Tryouts 2

Thanks to all who post comments! I love reading about what other folks have to say. Keep sharing! Day 2 of tryouts and Maddie is having a great time getting into the whole volleyball thing again. Kangaroo High has a beautiful brand new gym and I'm looking forward to that first real match. Mads is basically switching from setter to opposite so it will be fun to watch her grow in that position. Squads named on Thursday so next post then! Interesting comment about the politics of HS...I can see where being a senior and not making varsity might take the wind out of some girls. Only about 30 girls trying out split evenly among the 3 grades...will be interesting to see if what the coach said at the parents meeting (that the squads will be picked based on tryouts, not grades) will remain true or whether the pressure of making sure lots of seniors make varsity will win out. I don't envy her. They wanted to run 3 teams so no one gets cut, but not sure how that will work without 40 girls trying out, Maybe 15 person teams? Of course, that means lots of girls would sit on game day. Tough choices in the next 48 hours!

High School Volleyball Dad

Boy...the summer flew by! For the next couple of months it's club tryouts practice aka High School Volleyball! I enjoy watching Maddie compete at all levels and have to admit I'm looking forward to watching her as she begins her sophomore year. New coach, new gym and new energy at Kangaroo HS this year and tryouts start Monday! I DO find it amusing that Club teams choose their squads based on on a 2 hour tryout and HS takes 3 DAYS (10+ hours!). I will give it to Maddie; she worked hard this summer and is ready to compete, so to her and all of your DD's getting ready to go through the same thing, I say "go get 'em!"