Bump, Set, Spike

Maddie has finally found a sport she really enjoys - VOLLEYBALL!

She's tried a few different sports - tennis, swimming, gymnastics, there might have been some soccer in there, but I'm not sure.  Anyway - she's never really wanted to go out for team stuff because she normally gets nervous being on a team.  Which is precisely why Mike and I have tried to push her to at least try these different things.

Each summer the kids choose one sport and Maddie chose Volleyball.  It was one week of a couple hours per day.  She really enjoyed it.  So much, that she wanted to sign up again in the fall when they had a longer amount of time to play/practice.  So, twice a week for the last month-ish she's been going to volleyball practice and has asked Mike and I each weekend to help her practice.  Last night was their first game. 

She did pretty good.  They all played far better than I expected and there were some exciting moments when they actually got the ball over the net more than three times.  I was looking forward to seeing some "setting" (mostly  because I know that is one of Maddie's strengths) but unfortunately I think just playing the game was enough and in the entire time, we maybe saw three girls actually set. 

Maddie got a few chances to serve.  The first couple didn't quite make it over the net, but the third time was the charm and she got all three of her serves over and scoring points.  She was SO excited.  As we left the first thing she told me was, "I had no idea I was so good at serving!!"  It might be a premature statement to make, but I'll agree that as the night went on, she definitely got more agressive and into her game.  She even had one awesome bump that had a lot of the parents on the side cheering for her.  Not just us.  Or me, though I really had to hold back on my cheering at that point because I just wanted to stand up and yell, "That's MY girl!!"

And Maddie had groupies!  Not only was it Mike, Jake and I, but my dad and his friend, Pat, came to watch as well.  Tracy brought her cheering section along and Ellie made sure to call out for Maddie and "whistle" on good plays...or any plays.  And by whistle, I mean produce-a-loud-LOUD-shriek-with-her-finger-in-her-mouth.

Maddie has one more week of volleyball, then some open gym time and in November she's going to try out for the next level of volleyball team stuff.  Trying out...I never thought I'd see her going for that on her own, but I'm so proud of her doing it!  Keep your fingers crossed!