Travel Sports 2022-23

Whew. Travel sports have come to an end, and I have to say there is some relief on my part. I love watching the girls play these sports that they love so much but the travel has been exhausting. There has been some sweet time I have gotten with each one of them individually which I treasure. Over the past few months, we have had 10 travel weekends and that is a lot for me. My mom and Sissy both took a volleyball weekend and that was super helpful.

 

Reese didn’t make the club volleyball team that she played for last year and that was hard for her. She handled it well and she did make another club team. The team she played for uses college students as coaches. These college students are key players on the UA volleyball team. While that is cool these girls really aren’t ready to lead a team of teenage girls and they have to miss tournaments because they have demanding play schedules themselves. That was rough. The girls on her team have some potential but none of them are really playing to their potential. Partly because they just aren’t there yet and partly because they aren’t being coached to play to their potential. It was rough but she made the best of it. She made some great improvements this year, mainly the strength and accuracy of her serve. She is hoping to make another team next year and hopefully if she keeps working hard she will.

Ella played for the same club soccer team she’s been on for 3 years now. Several of the strongest players tried out for other teams and left last spring/summer. She wanted to do this too but with what we had going on last year there was no way we could do that. This season has been rough with the loss of the other key players. The club that she is on has been wonderful and we have had a great experience. I love her coaches and they care about this team so deeply. The only problem is that they push footwork over all else. So the girls don’t know how to play positions well or to stay in positions or how to work a passing game. We have not won many games this year. There is benefit to what the coach is doing and he is creating strong players but they switch to a large field next year and he still doesn’t plan to play a passing game for 1-2 more years, I talked to him about this to understand his plan as I make a plan on what to do next with Ella. They will continue to lose key players this way and I already know of at least 2 other strong players that are looking elsewhere. So we are trying out for 3 other clubs in the area and also for her current club. I am hoping to have options for next year and to be able to decide once we get a feel for each of these other clubs. This has been a hard thing for me and a tough choice. She is certain she wants to make a change and I support that as it feels right to me too but making the choice of which doesn’t seem super clear to me and I hope it all falls into place as it should as we go to these tryouts and continue to pray about it. 

This wouldn't be possible without the support of my mom, mother in law and sister. They have kept things moving back home. The other kids still have activities that go on at home on these travel weekends and I am so thankful they are willing to stay back and make that happen. They also help keep the animals alive. I find myself sad somewhat often that I don't have Neal helping me juggle it because he and I were such a great team and it all ran smoothly just the way we liked it when it was the 2 of us managing it. But I have to get myself out of that headspace quickly when it bubbles up because I am so fortunate to have all of the help and thinking that way won't help anything.

 

These girls really love these sports and I love watching them love it so much.💗