Never to old to play...

I'm not sure if T is laughing or wincing in pain.... or farting.

Your laughing cause you think I'm joking? I'm totally not, it happens.

Line was so open for us this whole game. And look the American Flag!!

OK, so this picture is kind of like "Where's Waldo" I'm not sure what is going on.

Jeans working the net!

Again Jeans workin it on the net. I am arguing my case I jumped to early!

ha ha ha! Apparently I just need to work on my vertical.

Here I'm demonstrating the proper way to watch your set and not cover....

My VB girls, do as I say, not as I do anymore :)

Nice, T is getting up!! Look, look I'm almost to my elbow's like the good ol days.

I'm pretty sure this ball went down for a kill. Where is the block??

Ya I'm not sure about this one. No ball, no person on the other side...

I must of been practicing on that vertical again.

Playing last weekend was a blast, the next day we were all a little sore, it was worth it though.

We have all decided to make this a yearly tradition! So once a year we will get together drive to WY and play volleyball.

ps. I miss volleyball, and I really miss all the girls I played with.

ps x2. Thanks P for being our fan and our photographer!

On another topic, weren't our jersey's cool?

Divisional Volleyball 2009

It's Monday, why don't we catch up?

Thursday we had to play Sunburst @ 1:00.
Sadly our girls just didn't come to play.
It was so frustrating to watch.
We lost in 3.

Losing this game meant in order for us to go to state, we would have to come through the back door. The back door means more games, less rest in between.

Friday we had to play North Star.
This is the team that knocked us out of the tournament last year.
This year that didn't happen.
We beat them in 4.

We had time to go eat and sit for an hour.
Then we were up again.

We played Big Sandy.
This is a team we have beat all year.
We beat them in 4 again.

Saturday morning at 11:00 we had to play Fort Benton.
Through the season and District Tournaments we have played them 5 times.
We have beat them 4 of those 5 times.
However we were worried. This was Divisional Tournaments and Fort Benton was going to come out fired up.
Much to our delight, our girls played absolutely awesome.
We beat Fort Benton in 3.

Our next game was right away.
We had to face Sunburst again.
If we won this game we were guaranteed going to state.
They take the top 2 Divisional teams to State.
If we won this game, we would have to play the Simms Tigers.
No matter what though, we would play for another week.

For some odd reason, we don't know what it is about Sunburst.
We are a much better team then they are.
Big Sandy, Chinook, Fort Benton all beat Sunburst.
Sometimes though, teams just get lucky and get things to fall right for them.

We lost to Sunburst once again in 3.
Ending our 2009 season.
We finished 3rd in Divisional's.

It was disappointing, but overall we had a good season.
Next year we will give it another shot.
Next year if we have to face Sunburst, they will be left broken and bleeding I'm almost sure of it.

Today

The Volleyball Divisional Tournament starts.

We play today at 1:00 against Sunburst.

We don't know a whole lot about them.
Except they are pretty good, they made it this far.

Keep your fingers crossed!

If we win this game we are up tomorrow at 9:00 am.

Weekend Recap

Oh what a weekend!

Friday
We played Fort Benton.
We lost to them in 5. It was a good game. It was a very close game.
I was on the edge of my seat!

Saturday
We played Geraldine. A team we lost to 2 times during season. (It was dumb mistakes that made us loose.)
We beat them in 3. It was awesome, I think we shocked them.

We then had a rematch with Fort Benton.
We beat them in 5. It was a good game. It was a very close game.

Because Fort Benton and Us both lost only 1 game to each other. We had to play them again.
Back to Back.

We beat them again.
In 4!
That last point was so great!

All the girls were jumping up and down, and screaming!
Everyone was so excited!!

We are the 2009 7-C District Champions!
This week Divisionals start. We have to finish in the top 2 to go on to state!
Keep your fingers crossed!

District Volleyball Tournaments

The District Volleyball tournament started.
We played our first game at 2:30 against GFCC.
We beat them in 3.

Our second game we played at 8:00 against Highwood.
Highwood and Belt are big rivals. They are rivals from 25 years ago.
We beat them in 5.

Winning that game against Highwood, ensure we are going to Divisional's!

Tonight we play Fort Benton at 6:00.
This is going to be a dog fight.
I can't wait.

Slacking

I neglected to write about the volleyball game on Saturday and trust me, it's worth writing about.

We played Fort Benton.... this probably means nothing to outstanding to you but let me explain.
Fort Benton was a B school, they just dropped to a C school this year.

They have some very athletic girls, including a 5'9" sophomore that can jump. She was born to be a Middle blocker.

This game last Saturday was the first time we have played them.... ever. And to make things even more interesting, it was their Homecoming.
That's right the stands were packed and there were high school boys practically crawling over the railings and hanging from the rafters.
Needless to say, they were decked out in their finest "Longhorn" gear, painted in Maroon and white and being obnoxiously loud.

Fort Benton right away over looked us, thinking "Well Belt is only a C school and we were a B school, so really this is going to be easy."

Well they were wrong.
We played a good game.
It went to five, Fort Benton was tired.
But Belt could have gone another 3 games.

We lost the first two matches, they were close.
There were some bad calls, some missed serves, some errors made by the score keeper.
Of course, this happens every game.
In the end we won.
It was AWESOME. Fort Benton cried, I just love to make teams cry.
Fort Benton pouted and got snotty, I just love to make teams feel like crap.
Sometimes I love being a competitive girl.

The bus ride home was loud to say the least.
The girls took it upon themselves to have a singing party.
They sang Gwen Stephani, George Strait, Katy Perry, Luke Bryant, and anything else you can think of.

Did I mention that that was their first lost?
It just makes the win that much sweeter.

Until Monday

I will be gone.

But not on vacation.

I will be at a clinic.

A coaching clinic.

It will be fun.

I will see old friends.

I would be lying if I said I wouldn't go out for a drink.

I'm also going to put my foot down.
Those are my girls, and I'm not giving them up. SORRY.

Peace out home slices.... until Monday.

My thoughts are like.... WOW

Yesterday was the first day in a week without any rain.

This morning on my way to work, I killed a rattlesnake.
Those things give me the creeps.
It also reminded me I need to mow the lawn, it's getting tall. Making it a place snakes will stretch out to stay cool.

I drank wine after I finished working out, I was thirsty.
Then I drank the whole bottle of wine with dinner. I didn't mean too but it was good.

This weekend I'm going to Billings for the much awaited and anticipated volleyball tournament.
I'm going to buy new shoes while I'm there.

After work, I'm going to ride my horse. I used to enjoy doing that but just don't have the time I would like to do it. I feel bad, my horse probably thinks I hate her. So after work, we are going to get re-acquainted.

My truck it making weird noises when I use the brakes.....
The truck going to the shop isn't in my budget right now.

Everyday I realize I don't have near enough money saved up to cover emergencies.

I have two weeks to decide what to do.

What will July bring?

July has been creeping closer and closer and I would be lying if I said I wasn't caught off guard.

What does this month bring? A variety of Fair food, volleyball, fireworks, shopping, camping, floating the river, birthday parties, planning, driving, farmer's markets.... the list is endless.

First and most important it's My Dad's birthday today! Happy Birthday Dad, Love you.

Second on the list is Fourth of July.
Don't ask me what my plans are because I have none. That is right I don't have anything planned. I don't know if I should go camping, go to the rodeo, paint my toenails, or just watch my chickens all weekend. I'm undecided as to what I may do this weekend.

I started making a grocery list for all the things I would like to make for the 4th of July (even if I don't go anywhere it's important to celebrate with food)

After this weekend it is all about getting ready for the volleyball tournaments coming up. Oy I hope we get everything done.

Thinking of all the things I need to get done before the month is over is exhausting.

Volleyball Camp

Oh how I miss the days where I could sit on my can all summer long and eat whatever I like. Including Ice Cream once a day sometimes twice a day.

I miss the days where I could literally do nothing and go to the gym to play a little volleyball and be just fine.
Sure I would be tired but I could jump forever, I could still hit the ball hard, I could go on for hours and hours of volleyball and be just fine.

Those days are over. Those days are long gone.

Now I must train and work out and try like hell to get my butt in shape.
Oh lord how I miss being so young and agile. I miss being able to bounce back so quickly.

I miss being quick.

Yesterday at camp I went through a couple drills, immediately after I had to sit down, breathe, drink some water and eat some food to revive myself.
I think I may need to start working out again now so I'm in shape for the volleyball tournament in July.

On the Hunt

Currently I'm searching the wide vastness of the Internets.
What am I looking for?

Volleyball gear.
I want to get the girls some team traveling gear.
I also want to get my little girls a team shirt or sweatshirt...

I thought this would be fairly easy.

However I was wrong.
Holy cow have prices gone up.

It's depressing.

So on top of hunting the web. I'm also thinking of fund raisers....

Lord help me, I'm beginning to act and talk like a coach.

Oh dear. I know how you feel.

This past weekend the Volleyball team I've been coaching headed off to the Divisional Tournament.

We went in hope full and fully confident we would do well and continue on to state. (This team I feel, could have went to state and competed just fine with the other teams)

As most of you know, tournament time is a crazy time. Some teams are tournament teams, some are not.
We played well during our tournaments in the past. Either taking first or second at all the tournaments we had participated in.

This however evidently had to come to an end.
All high school tournaments are double elimination. (Keep this in mind)

Our first game was on Thursday and we played North Star.
We won in 5 games. They played well, and fought for that win.

The next game we had was Geraldine. Geraldine is in our district and we had played them before and had beaten them 2 other times.
We played them on Friday, and we lost to Geraldine.
I'm not sure why? I believe that was the worst game of volleyball those girls had ever played.

It's okay though, we are still in this. We just have to come back up from the bottom. Totally possible!

On Saturday we had to play North Star, again.
We beat them in 3. North Star is out, and get to stay.

Our next game was then at 1:00 against Simms Tigers, then we would have another shot at Geraldine at 4:00. Then we would be back in the championship game.

1:00 rolls around and we play Simms. The first two games the girls played scared and safe. This technique NEVER works. We lost the first two games.
That third game, they came out and really played. And they beat Simms, things were looking up and we were gaining hope again.
Then, the fourth game was over before I knew it.
I hate to say this, but some of the girls just flat out quit.
Some were tired, and some were just young.
All in all. We lost to Simms in 4 games.
We were out. No more.

This all brought me back to that feeling I had my senior year in volleyball when we lost out in District's. You feel so sad, so many what ifs. You wonder why things happened they way they did, but ultimately you really had no control. And that feeling is the worst one ever.

Man oh Man, did we have some tears.
I didn't know how to handle them. I gave pat's on the back, good job's. But there is nothing you can say to make those girls feel better. Especially the seniors.

I just quietly stood there with them.
I was thinking the entire time. "Oh dear, I know exactly how you feel."

I wanted to cry with them and for them, but it wouldn't have helped. What was done is done.
They will all move on. Some will forget, and some won't. (I know I never did)

I don't think there is anything to say that will "help", or be "the right thing."
That has been the hardest part of coaching to date.
But I was there, standing with them, understanding that feeling.
I think that is the best thing I could have done.