2012 Jr High Volleyball season for the Spartans is over. We finished up 11-4 in regular season. We were seeded 16th in the upper tournament bracket so we had to play the first place team in the first round. Unfortunately, we didn’t play very well. They probably still would have beaten us, but it would have been nice to give a little better showing. So we finished 16th in state! I’m not too sad about that.
The rankings were based on strength of schedule and points against. I know other people have different philosophies than me about winning each set vs giving the bench some experience and I (and my assistant coach) felt that giving the bench some experience was more important than winning in two sets each game. We might have been able to be higher in the seed, but next year would have been very difficult with seven 8th graders moving on and I have no regrets.
The season was fun. I really enjoyed watching them grow and learn from where they were during tryouts until the last week of practice. I think we also had some growth in attitude and sportsmanship. I was impressed that we were able to play positions at least in front row. It is almost forced on you from a coach’s perspective due to the substitution rules, so I’m glad it worked out.
Would I do it again? From a volleyball perspective, yes. From a personal perspective, I’m not sure. I really feel like this season was a special and needed distraction for me to help me get through the miscarriage. Volleyball gave me a reason to get out of my house and something else to think about. So in that sense, it was really a blessing. But I also feel like it wasn’t very fair to my kids. They were great and suffered through some of those hot days really well. But, by the end of the season both of them really didn’t want to go to practice or games anymore. And, they are the reason I’m not working right now. I’m supposed to be pouring into them and its kinda hard with a 8-15 hr commitment each week. Maybe if I had an alternative situation for them it would feel better. It also keeps us from foster care. I would not be able to coach if we had still had the girls or any other foster child. Choosing between the two, I would have to go with foster care. It is our main ministry and while I can minister at volleyball, its not the primary reason I’m there.
I’m sure I’ll end up coaching teams that my kids are on and I’ll be able to use some of the things I’ve learned in the last few months. And maybe someday when I don’t have littles in the house anymore, I can do a competitive coaching stint again. 🙂