Dog Days of August

This month seems very non-descript to me today, for some reason. There are no holidays, the heat is almost always unbearable which makes me want to stay inside, I’ve already taken my vacations, and I’m just waiting. Waiting for the students to arrive, waiting for the school year to start...waiting for something.

For eight years of my life, August has meant the beginning of volleyball season. I'd have my summer training behind me, and was hoping that I had worked out enough for the coaches not to kill me in the first weeks of the season. Some years I was in great shape, other years...not so much. I miss the excitement that came in being reunited with teammates who I hadn’t seen in months, telling stories from our time apart, putting on the fresh practice jerseys and new shoes. Seeing if we could still read one another. If we were still a team.

The awkwardness in the new faces of the freshman.
The adjustment to the new leadership of the upper classmen.
The thrill that came when I picked up the volleyball for the first time, again.

The days that followed that first practice back were some of the most intense days of pain I’ve ever felt in my life…every single year! This was nothing that my summer training could ever prepare me for…there was nothing that an ice pack or ice bath, for that matter, could remedy. This was part of the territory, part of the battle. This was the moment that separated the strong from the weak. We bonded through the pain. Who would push through the fact that they couldn’t even turn over at night without being woken up by the pain, let alone manage a flight of stairs? Laughing was no longer pleasant, and I was just praying that I had something to hold onto when I needed to sit down. A true competitor takes pride in this kind of pain. It means that you are getting better. When it comes down to it during the season, and the game is on the line…you have known pain, and you have overcome it.

This was my life for eight years. And now, it has been eight years since my last August preseason. This month has not been the same for me since I hung it up. Those moments still linger for me. Reminding me of the days that I would step onto the court and challenge someone, anyone to make me better. I thought of those days when I was running my first marathon this past February. Remembering what I had been through helped me push through the hardest part on that day.

I still think of those days, but now it is different…

No, August hasn’t been the same for me, but that’s okay. Time passes and things change. You have to take the good with you and keep moving forward toward the better.

I no longer have the goal of a National Championship set out before me every year. My goals are different. I hope to touch the lives of young people and encourage them to achieve their dreams. In each of their dreams, I reach mine.

Lucky for me…I’ll get to step onto the court one more time this month. I won’t be as quick, as explosive, or as talented. But it should be just as fun! Maybe even more so. This time I’ll appreciate every second of it…