A l’école de mes enfants, on m'a demandé de faire un discours pour les high-schoolers pour parler de mon expérience en tant qu'ancienne joueuse de volley-ball et les leçons que j'ai appris de mon expérience. Le discours était un vrai succès alors j'ai décidé de le partager avec mes lecteurs.
Bonne lecture.
"Hi,
My name is Sana, i am a mom of 2, an architect
and a former volleyball player. I am here to talk about my experience as a
volleyball player in Lebanon and what I have learned from it.
When I was 12 years old, I was living in
Lebanon with my family. My mom was a PE teacher, a volleyball player and a
coach. She was training the volleyball team of the village where I grew up, she
pushed me and my brothers to do any kind of sports but I ended up playing
volleyball just like her.
I was part of my village’s team. We used to
practice every day during the summer breaks and on weekends during winter. Our
coach, used to put a lot of pressure on us. Our practices were very intense;
there was never any goofing off or laughing during our practices for playoff
matches. The practices were spent learning smart shots for every situation, how
to set up defensive patterns on the fly, how to adjust during broken plays,
when to use what tricks, how to read the other team, how to communicate
effectively…
We were invited to all the tournaments in the
north of Lebanon during the volleyball season, we used to stay up late watching
all the games and going back home proud of winning trophies. We used to make a
lot of noise on our way back home so the village people know we won and can be
proud of us. It used to be their main conversation the next day when they
gather.
I used to play defense, serve and serve
receive, it is exciting to contribute in the play. The game is fast paced, it
always keeps you on your toes and you constantly have an opportunity to compete
with your opponent.
The day after I decided to learn volleyball, my
life changed. I still play volleyball from time to time with my kids and
friends and I still have a passion for it. This decision made a huge impact on
my life in a very special way. It has shaped me as a person. Playing volleyball
has taught me a countless number of things to remember and use in my life, it
has provided me with some of my best friends, the love of the game and I’m
still thankful for that.
Playing a sport, no matter which sport or which
level you are playing at, will teach you a multitude of lessons. Volleyball has
been a major component in my life since I started middle school. I had to stop playing in university because I
wanted to pursue a career in architecture and wanted to fully devote my time to
my studies. It became hard to manage between practice, games schedule and my
architecture courses and deadlines. But there is not a day that I do not miss
my teammates, my coaches and the thrill of blocking a team’s right-side.
Although my club volleyball days may be over, the lessons I learned over seven years
of practice will always be a part of me, and I am eternally grateful.
Here are a few of the many strength that I have
gained and that I use in my day to day life and in my career:
First, it taught me the meaning of a
teammate.
If you have ever been on a volleyball team
before, you know that playing volleyball creates a special bond. It helps with
the chemistry on the court. You are not allowed to touch the ball twice in a
row and you only have three touches on a side before it goes over the net.
These two basic rules are the reason why a volleyball team is different than
any other team.
I personally don’t know any other sport that
relies on its teammates as much as volleyball does. In basketball, the star
player can dribble the ball down the court and make a basket; same goes for
soccer. One player, if they want, can make an entire play all on their own.
However, in volleyball, you have to work with your teammates to score. It takes
a passer to get the ball to the setter and then set up the hitter to get a
kill, making it a true team effort.
You learn that no matter how different you and
the other 5 people on the court are, you have one passion and one goal. You
learn to lean on each other, depend on each other, trust each other, and to not
let each other down. Plus to be a good teammate, you must be coachable and
eager to learn more about the sport and want to continue to better yourself.
In the real world, you are not going to be
surrounded by your best friends in your workplace, and working well with others
is a vital skill to learn. This applies to friendship, working, family, being
successful, or being in a relationship.
Second, Love.
Yes, it taught me to love and be tough. When
you love something so much, you do anything for it. Loving volleyball meant
being dedicated to it. I love sleeping in, but I would get up any day, super
early, to make it to practices, games, and tournaments. Also you got to
love a sport that involves you to throw yourself onto hard surface floors for a
ball, risking your life to save it. The countless hours of practicing diving
for balls has left me black and blue for weeks. You also can’t begin to
describe the love of your floor burns, because normally there was a really good
save involved. I’ve had countless floor burns, sprained ankles, bruises, you
name it and I’ll be up in 2 seconds to keep playing. That’s how we should love,
no matter the situation, the hardships, you got to get up and keep going.
Third, communication.
Volleyball is a sport that when your team does
not communicate, you guys disconnect and fall apart. As in any team sport,
communication is key. Because players on a volleyball court are relatively
close together, they're able to communicate with each other quickly and
efficiently. This includes things like helping front row hitters swing towards
an empty spot or alerting a blocker that there's a tip coming over instead of a
hard hit or helping the setter know when you're ready to hit. Plus, because you
only get 3 attempts to get the ball over, it's extremely important to communicate
who is getting the ball.
I have seen teams that won the first set 25-3,
but the second set they failed to effectively communicate and balls dropped and
no one went for them because everyone assumes "someone else is going to
get it". With good communication, you know where everyone on the court is
and what they're doing.
This sport has allowed me to come out of my
shell and have the ability to talk to others with confidence and no hesitation.
Fourth, making quick and strategic decisions.
Volleyball is a really, really fast paced game.
Coaches always tell us to make sure we're in a "ready position"
(knees are slightly bent, we're on the balls of our feet, hands out slightly in
front of us ready to pass with forearms or fingertips). This is because if you
have to transition from standing up straight down to a good passing position,
you've already delayed yourself by a split second, which can be the difference
between making and missing a pass. Same applies for hitting - when you're in
the air, you only have a certain amount of time to swing, so you better either
know where you're swinging beforehand or decide when you're in the air but
because the game varies so much, you have to be able to make a quick decision
on where to put the ball.
This translates into the workplace, too! I
think being a player on a bunch of different kinds of teams has helped me
understand how to lead teams at work.
Last but not least, don’t be afraid of
making mistakes.
Understand that making mistakes is the best way
to learn. Push yourself to try new things and possibly fail and then pride
yourself on never making the same mistake twice. Taking risks sometimes
results in failure but experiencing failure leads to improvement. If you
think about anything you have learned in life; math, riding a bike or learning
to drive, how often did you get it perfect the first time you tried? Being
afraid of making mistakes will render you useless and have the same effect on
your team. When you make a mistake on the court, you've got to own up and say
something like "I'll get it next time" instead of blaming the ball,
the court, the lights, or whatever else. This carries over to situations off
the court, too! If something doesn't go perfectly at work, it's not helpful to
look for someone to blame or to blame the technology or my co-workers.
Sometimes you lose. It’s a fact of life. And
the sooner you can accept it, make the best of it and improve for next time,
the better attitude you’ll have about challenges in life. Fear is appropriate
when trying something new and when you don’t know how it will all work out, but
that doesn’t mean that you don’t try. Try, assess, learn, try again, re-assess,
learn, refine, practice and change.
So all in all, volleyball is an amazing sport.
I highly recommend trying it out if you haven't! You'll learn a lot from it as
a team sport, and it's a lot of fun. I've played on a number of volleyball
teams in different settings such as club, high school team, sand tournaments,
and recreational teams as an adult. Every team has been different and I've
learned something new with every team I've played on.
The experience of being on a volleyball team
changes you. Any prior knowledge of what a team means changes after playing
volleyball. The bond of a volleyball team is indescribable, because whether you
win or lose, you still know your team has your back. Between the countless
hours of practicing and weight lifting, and always having bruises and floor
burns all over your body, you still love it. The feeling of stepping onto a
volleyball court to warm up before a game is a feeling that never truly goes
away.
Sports are frightening, competitive, and fast. A season of volleyball is a thrilling journey full of triumph, defeat, and progress physically and mentally. Defeat is a huge part of any sport; it teaches you to keep pushing.
Decision making is a part of everyone’s life.
One decision may change your life forever. For instance, I made a decision to
play volleyball when I was in fifth grade, it was one of the most impactful
decisions I have ever made in my life and it changed my life by teaching me so
many precious lessons to remember and use. It has taught me to respect
opponents and referees, communication, leadership, responsibility, and
willpower. It helped me become more successful in my life and my career by
teaching me the importance of hard work, self-discipline by dedication and training,
winning isn’t everything and to always do my personal best.
I hope this inspires you to take on a team sport or make you realize how great it is to be part of a team.
Thank you."
