Cynthia's St. Mary's Athletics Reflection

7th/8th grade volleyball championship team

Looking back at the years I played basketball, this season was by far the best. Comparing our first game in the tournament to our championship game, we have come a long way. In our first game, we couldn’t take care, catch, shoot, or pass the ball very well and our feet were “glued to the floor”. In 3^rd and 4^th grade, we could barely score. But at the end of my career, we were hitting double digits every game and actually somewhat looked like basketball players on the court rather than a bunch of girls running around, being scared of the ball.

My volleyball season this year was amazing. In the beginning of this season, I was determined to do better than last year. At our championship game, there was one thing on my mind: win. We played hard and never gave up, and finally, it paid off.  At the end of my St. Mary’s volleyball career, we finally got first place. In our first season, we could barely get our serves over and all we could try to do is bump it over. Now, we could overhand serve, bump-set-spike, and tip.

Playing sports wasn’t always so glamorous as I had my share of struggles. The lowest point of my St. Mary’s career was probably the beginning of this past season. I took a huge step back. I wasn’t taking care of the ball, I missed many layups, my shot was off, and everything was kind of bad. Even though we won the games, I felt as if I didn’t do my best and wasn’t doing anything to help the team.

Another lowlight was when I fractured a bone in my arm in 5^th grade while driving to the basket in a game. I missed the last few games of the season and didn’t play basketball in 6^th grade. It was sad just sitting there, watching all my friends play basketball while I had to sit out, but I’m glad I was able to come back and play again.

I would like to thank all the wonderful coaches I had. They all helped me improve and taught me many lessons that I will always remember. The coaches supported me and always inspired me to do my best. I would also like to thank my teammates, for their continual support. Most of all, I would like to thank Bryan. Without him, there would be no athletic program and none of the wonderful opportunities we have today.

           

Bryan became our athletic director when I was in 3^rd grade. Before then, I didn’t know anything about sports except for what we did in P.E. No one talked about the athletics program. In fact, I didn’t even know we had an athletics program until Bryan came. When he introduced sports, everything changed. Everyone was talking about sports, trying to catch up on the latest newsletter, and now, watching the latest highlights and posts on the blog.

This was the best year in my St. Mary’s career. We managed to get into the championships in both basketball and volleyball, and I have a first place trophy to show for it. Not only did we do well, but we made strong bonds that will last into the future. The trophies don’t matter as much as all the good times, friends, and memories that will last forever.

St. Mary’s Athletics is the best thing I joined at St. Mary’s and I will never forget all the great times and laughs I had.