Chicago, Illinois. I had been there plenty of times before, but this time it was for something special. Walking along Navy Pier was almost a daily thing when I went there, but this time it was for something special. I arrive at the building standing on its front steps watching the best volleyball players in the nation walk in with their head held high. 52 courts. Over 400 teams from 13u-18u. This was the Nationals Volleyball Tournament.
This isn’t your average travel volleyball team tournament. These teams that are invited are top notch, chosen from the best girls in the nation. My teammates were like family at this point. Some went to my school and others I had played with since that first day of tryouts in March. There was a countdown at Impact Dynamic, the club we played for, until nationals. Each practice every team would get excited and work harder and push themselves for the tournament they had been waiting for all season. This was the Nationals Volleyball Tournament.
I walk in, uniform on, wearing a red and black long sleeve jersey and spandex . Of course representing number 54. Also wearing my “lucky headband” as my team called it, you would never see me playing without it. Hair braided, kneepads on, shoes tied, I was ready to play. There were college scouts all around, making the tension level quite high. We started in our pool and after the first day we came out on top in our pool. The next day was the start of the gold bracket. There was about 40 teams in this playing for the number one spot in 14u volleyball. In all honesty, I can develop a bad attitude while playing. My coach and I both knew that and so when we were down or I had an off game, I got down on myself and it was very hard to put myself back together. These volleyball players were unreal, verticals over two feet, and their back row players barely standing over 5’2”, but they were quick on their toes.
Our third game in the gold bracket was against one of the top teams in the nation. Technically, they were a 15u team but they had just enough younger girls to consider themselves a 14u team. Our coach switched the rotation for one specific girl, their outside hitter. She was quite arrogant during the warm ups and other games we had watches of theirs. But, playing her was completely different, she had the biggest head..and it was clearly all fed to her by her coach, surprise surprise, it was her mom. She was the stereotypical coach’s kid, her name was Sarah actually. Sarah played every point of every game down there and I assumed so the rest of the season. Don’t get me wrong, this girl was good. But, her need to flaunt her talent in an unnecessary matter distracted from her raw talent. We were getting absolutely crushed in the first game and ended up losing by 13. 25-12.
My coach who is currently the JV coach at Byron Center, was hands down the best coach I've ever had. She pushed me to my limits because she knew what I wanted for myself. In this first match I got very down on myself because of the final score. It took one phrase for my coach to say to snap me back to my normal self, determined and willing.
"Peyton, focus, you're better than this and I believe in you." We played our hearts out the final game of the season, losing a close game 23-25. I was so thankful to be apart of that regional team. Those girls were my sisters and I was so blessed to grow not only as a volleyball player but also a person.