Volleyball Tryouts

Warming up before tryouts begin on day 2.

(Did I mention she was also the cutest girl there?)

This weekend was the volleyball tryouts for club volleyball. Alea was by far the youngest and shortest girl there. Tryouts were form 4-6 on Saturday and 1-3 on Sunday. They ran drills, played mini games, and did sessions that focused on a specific skill (bumping, serving, setting, spiking/hitting, etc.) While they were doing all of this different coaches were scoring them. Alea is in the 12 and under division so there were girls there a lot older than her and girls with a lot more skills. There were some 11 year old girls that could jump serve and get the ball out of bounds on the other court. Wow! There were also some 10 and 11 year old girls there (I don't think there were any 9 year old girls) that were similar in skill level to Alea. The girls with similar skill sets had more control of their bodies and more maturity to understand the drills. Alea did a good job though and we are proud of her and I think she is proud with herself too for hangin' with the big girls. There were probably around 80 to 100 girls there trying out for the different teams offered for 13 and under. The 15 and under and 17 and under girls will tryout next weekend.

We don't expect her to make a team...our idea was for her to have this experience trying out and to learn and become more comfortable with volleyball in this setting. There is a chance she will make a team and at first I had the wrong attitude about that. I kept seeing her and the other girls with her similar skills and was thinking how expensive club is and that we would probably decline the bid if she gets offered a team because her team will lose all of their games and matches. Then I was watching the 11 year old girls that were so amazing and realized that they started somewhere. If Alea makes a team it won't be about winning it will be about the practices and developing her skills. They practice twice a week for a couple of hours each practice. If she makes a team I hope one practice is on the weekends so she isn't too overwhelmed during the week. 

Alea was number 76. I told her '76 was a good year. ;)