Lydia's Volleyball Highlights- Junior

It took me almost a full year, but I'm finally ready to come to terms with Lydia's decision to transition from player to coach.  The demands of being a high school volleyball player - at least in Woodbury - are extensive and yearlong.  Lydia truly loves the sport and comes alive on the court. Yet, she has a realistic perspective on her talent and stature and knows collegiate volleyball is not in her cards. Combine that with some not-so-healthy dynamics in team culture, and she was ready to retire as a player after her junior year.  Financially, it has already paid off.  She was offered a coaching position over club season last winter, and this summer, she was able to work many more hours without off-season training and practices starting three full weeks before school. 

I love watching Lydia play volleyball. She's gritty, competitive, and explosive. She has grown as an athlete, a problem-solver, and a leader.  Now, she applies those skills as a coach and in life. In our journey through the world of volleyball, we have seen many players burn out, lose passion, or not finish on their own terms. None of that is true with Lydia. She still loves volleyball - and she's not done yet.

This video got a little long, but you will be rewarded if you stay tuned to the end.

Lydia's club volleyball highlights

I need to get through these highlight videos faster than I am.  This video features highlights from Lydia's club volleyball season, which took place from January to April.  We are now in full swing of her high school season! 

Lydia's Highschool Volleyball Highlights

It was so exciting to watch Lydia play libero for the B-squad this year!  The libero is easy to find because she wears a different colored jersey and she doesn't do the rotations or sub out very much.  Her primary job is to usually get the first hit when the ball goes over the net.  She is usually the shortest one on the team and agility and speed are important. She's hitting the balls that are coming down to the ground veryfast and the goal is to keep the ball in play. With that kind of quick response, getting the ball to also go in the right direction doesn't always happen!

There were are fair share of both wins and losses, which is better than last year.  At the end of the season, Lydia received the "Best Defensive Player" award, voted on by her team.

Here is a link to the highlight video.

Lydia's JO volleyball highlights

Lydia had volleyball tryouts at the high school this week so it's about time I get a highlight video together for her club season from last winter!😊 (Spoiler alert: she made the team!)

A normal part of volleyball is helping ref the other matches.  Here Lydia is watching for ball touches and net violations.

Lydia ended up being the backup hitter.  She has a lot of fun at this position.  Even though she doesn't have the typical height for it, she has the vertical to get the job done!

Club volleyball is definitely a business and a prime example of the excessive monitary consumption of youth sports.  In a sea of competive, elite private clubs, we like our local city club because she plays with many of the same kids she plays with at the high school, the practices are held in district gyms, and the cost is manageable. 

I love watching Lydia play volleyball because she is so intense and clearly loves it. She plays with confidence and she plays to win to the very last point!

Lydia's freshman volleyball highlights

We are down to three tournaments left of Lydia's club volleyball season, so it's time to post highlights from her highschool season!  

It was so nerve-racking and exciting for Lydia to try out for the team back in the middle of August before she had even had her first day of highschool!  There are five teams at our highschool: 9B, 9A, B Squad, JV, and Varsity.  There were cuts in every grade, but Lydia made the 9A team!  

While Lydia had gotten very comfortable with her role as the setter during club season, there were FOUR setters on her team. (Not sure why they don't sort this out during try-outs?)  Lydia doesn't have the height to be a front row player if she's not setting, so she was put in the position of DS (defensive specialist).  Her job is the respond to the attack of the other team, getting the first hit and putting the ball into play on their side of the court.  There were definately some growing pains and a lot to learn, but she took on the challenge and made great progress over a short season.  I think it has made her a more well-rounded player and set her up for more success on future teams.

Note that Lydia is #5 as you watch the highlights.  She is a hustler honing in her skills!  While we see other members of her team struggle when they fall behind, Lydia competes to the very last game point. We love to watch her play!

setter 7 go getter

Lydia's club volleyball season was so much fun!  She managed to make the 14-1 team and solidify her position as a setter.  Spunky and gritty - and gravity-defying - we love to watch her play with so much intensity.

Lydia's season started in December with two two-hour practices a week. Competition was eight weekend tournaments.  They were very long days (usually 4-6 matches), but mostly within an hour of our home. During the tournaments when they weren't playing, her team would have to help officiate other matches.

Lydia's team was about average.  They would always land somewhere in the middle of the placings.  I think they did great, considering there is a whole nother level of elitism in volleyball that is far beyond our reach.  Youth sports is can really suck you in if you're not on your guard.

The final tournament was in Rochester in April.  They had a lot of fun and it was exciting to watch them place 1st in their bracket!

We have encouraged our kids to try lots of things and not be in a big hurry to "specialize" in one sport.  I was surprised when Lydia decided not to do track this spring, but rather tried out for the school musical.  So it appears as though she may be down to one sport (with the exception of unified football).  She had her first high school volleyball camp yesterday!  So I guess the means she's playing it year-round.  I'm glad she's found an outlet for her competitive nature and team sport she loves.

Lydia's volleyball highlights

We know how this goes by now, right?  Three month, you hear nothing from me, and then BAM! Six month old news is posted!  But let's look at this with a long-term perspective. I'm recording history.  As long as it's recorded, the "when" is not so important.  If you want to know what's happen in the Wedan Family in the present moment, text me.  You will probably hear back from me within 48 hours.

As with everything else, we didn't know what to expect in our new community when it came to volleyball. Lydia was ready to take on the challenge and she tried out the first week at her new school.  There were lots of girls and they put together four teams, and a waitlist.  At her last school, they barely had enough girls to form one team. 

Much like football, it felt like whiplash.  The teams were ranked A-1, A-2, B-1, and B-2. 

 

Yes, really.  

That's what we've come to call "The Woodbury Way". Our prior experience was disorganization and disengagement.  "The Woodbury Way" is spreadsheet central and over-the-top engagement.  But I digress...

For those of us who don't know much about volleyball, there is the regular volleyball season in the fall in Minnesota that kids play at school - or rec league before middle school.  And then there is this thing called "club volleyball" (or JO - Junior Olympic volleyball), that runs it's season through the winter months.  We have never tried JO volleyball for 3 reasons: (1) covid, (2) cost, and (3) commitment level.  Yikes - JO volleyball runs the same season as wrestling.

I had already done my research, and, knowing Lydia's passion for the sport, decided we would try JO volleyball this year if she managed to make A team.  She didn't know that, so no pressure!  

Lydia and volleyball are an unlikely pair that go together like pineapple on pizza.  My 5-foot-nothing daughter made A-2!  

Woodbury keeps middle school in-house, so they exclusively played the A teams from the three other middle schools in our district and her team went 3 and 3.

It is so much fun to watch Lydia live in action on the court.  I loved every minute of it last fall, and I'm currently loving every minute of club volleyball.  Which will come in a later post.

Much later.

Lydia's volleyball highlights

Lydia had a very big transition this fall.  She only did online school for 6th grade and the last trimester of 5th grade, so she had not been to in-person school in a year and a half.  In addition, it was her first official year at middle school (since virtual school bypassed those middle school rituals like passing time, locker use, and social drama).  Most intimidating was that she was flying solo as her closest elementary school friends were attending school elsewhere. I wasn't sure how the adjustment would go.

Turns out she's more resilient than I even thought - she didn't seem to skip a beat.  Not even on the court, where she missed out on a full season due to covid.  She was one of the more experienced players on her team and took on a natural leadership role.  

Lydia is a very consistent server.  A good player would be able to anticipate her serve - almost always going to the middle of the back row - and volley it back.  But occasionally she would encounter a player who just couldn't return it.  In one game, she served at least 15 straight points to the same unfortunate player until Lydia was so embarrassed for her that she intentionally blew a serve.  In the next match, the ref changed the rules so you could only score 5 points before the other team got the ball. 

This was our first experience with middle school sports and it was fun!  We didn't have to take her to practice - she just stayed after school!  And they transported her to games, and if we didn't go to a game, they would have just brought her home!  She was also very fun to watch as she really shows a lot of drive and passion.  She may be petite, but she's not about to be overlooked.

Lydia's Volleyball Highlights

We were excited for Lydia's volleyball season this fall.  We expected it to be a more challenging year because 5th and 6th grade play together.  Lydia didn't know anyone on her team, so when we walked into the gym on the first night and saw all these very tall girls on her team - I thought to myself that this would be interesting.  When I picked her up from practice, she reported to me that basically no one on her team had ever played volleyball before and her team was terrible.  And it was true.

The way volleyball works, at this age anyway, is teams play "matches" in a "set" of three.  The first two matches are played to 25, with one team scoring at least 2 more points than their opponent (25-24 would not be a win).  The 3rd match is played to 15 as a tie-breaker if each team has won one match. Usually our teams would play 3 matches regardless.  They were already there, so why not?

Lydia's team WAS terrible.  They won a couple of matches, but lost every set during the regular season. Lydia was probably the most experienced player on the team and a very consistent server, but the team was awful at volleying.  No one at this age is great, but her team just couldn't get their act together at all!

The big day of the tournament came and the brackets were set.  Lydia's team was the worst-seeded team in the lowest bracket.

Then something crazy happened.  They won.

They won their first match.  They won their first set.  They went on to win their set against their next opponent. And what we thought was going to be a short morning drew out into the afternoon.  They found themselves in the championship game against a team that had obliterated them in the regular season. On that day, one of the players served 17 times in a row, because no one could volley it back over the net.  But on tournament day, unfortunately - for the other team - their ringer served the ball out of bounds a couple of times. And Lydia's team won.

What a way to end an otherwise miserable season!  The girls were elated! And they had learned a few lessons along the way.  Like sometimes hard work really does pay off.  Never give up.  And some of life's greatest triumphs come when you've been knocked down.