Alex Morgan, Olympic Soccer star - says soccer has taught her a lot about life in general — how to be patient, how to listen, how to step up when she needs to. And it has taught her to love herself.

“It’s important for women to feel confident in their own body, whether they have broad shoulders or big calves, or whatever,” Morgan says. “I have big calves and I love showing off my legs because of it. So whether your body is athletic, or skinny, or big-boned, it doesn’t matter. You should love it no matter what.”

Chris (Geeter) McGee is a former college player, an announcer for the AVP, and he is a co-director and 18s coach for Sports Shack Volleyball Club.  He has coached his 18s to a 5th place finish in the 2009 National Championship in the 18s Open division and to the Gold Medal in the 18s Open Division in 2010 and 2011.  He is also a cohost to the podcast The Net Live.  A caller to the show asked Chris “What mental strategies do you preach to your girls during the season and do you revisit them as the season goes on?”

His answer was:

“A lot of coaching is the technical part and the game part.  For me, my style  - a lot of it is the mental strategies, a lot of it is about the journey and the process.  Too much now in club sports and when kids are young - people are always wanting the end result so early.  They want to see the gold medal, they want to see the championships and they don’t remember that there is a process that goes into it, it is a growing and learning process.

I think personally, this is why I believe in it, this is why I preach it to my teams.  The season and the team you are on, it is what you make of it, and if it was easy and all rosy and perfect, then everyone would do it and it wouldn’t be that fun and you wouldn’t learn that much.

I think in a season you are always going to have some adversity, you are gonna have injuries, you’re gonna have sickness, you’re gonna have some kids who aren’t playing who are unhappy, you are going to go through some bad spells where maybe you are not playing well, all that, I think makes you better.  And how you handle that situation, that is what defines you at the end of the season.

I always use two years ago as an example, that team that won the gold medal in 2010 we ended up using a lineup at JOs (Junior National

Championships) that we had never used before.  We just had a thought that we needed to do something.  We went with it, played really well, we stuck with it for the next 6 matches.  So we kind of do that during the season.  We’ll throw different things out.  We’ll see how they respond, its almost like Phil Jackson type style of coaching, when sometimes he won’t call time out, he’ll maybe even lose a game because he wants to them to try and figure it out.  So you wanna see how the kids react. Maybe I’ll bring a kid in to serve in a pressure situation because I want to know if she can do it later in the year as well.  So I think those kinds of mental aspects of coaching are vital for a team’s success.

So we definitely preach that and teach it and the big words we use are “the process and the journey of being a team” because if you think you are going to come out in December and January in the club season and be great and win championships its just not going to happen that way.

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I hope everyone remembers that being on a club volleyball team is an eight month journey.  What we learn, what we teach, and the relationships we build and how we handle obstacles along the way are what is important.

For each individual in this club - playing volleyball is an even longer journey and a much more complex and involved process.  For some girls their journey may only last a few years.  For others it may last a lifetime.  So enjoy the journey, embrace the process of growing, learning and playing.  In the immortal words of Seals and Crofts - “We may never pass this way again.”  So enjoy it while we are here now.

I was working on the computer this evening while my kids were watching a Disney Movie called Akeelah and the Bee.  There was a moment in the movie where the protagonist is made to read a quote that was hanging on the wall.  Her tutor then asked her what the quote meant.  I liked the idea of behind the quote so I looked it up.  The quote was from

A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles by Marianne Williamson

Here is the entire quote that is a little longer than the edited version in the movie.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

I wish every volleyball player in our club could learn this lesson - do not be afraid to be powerful, to be brave, to be dynamic.  Dare to excel, dare to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous.  As you dare to succeed you will find your team growing and succeeding with you.

The little girl in the movie’s description of what this quote meant was pretty straight to the point also - “Don’t be afraid.”  When asked what she should not be afraid of she answered “Me.”

I finally got pictures from Rebecca’s Middle School Promotion.

Since I’m late with them, I posted them here and added them to the promotion article.

What would graduation be without your friends showing up to cheer you on.

It must be time to go to Nationals. 

How can I tell?

Each year the landscaping in my front yard changes when it is time to go to Nationals.

Now I would never try and implicate MY team in such devious behavior.  But the culprit of this heinous act actually wrote their names on one of the signs. 

So we are off to Nationals today.  I will try and post updates if I have time.

This week ten Ridgecrest Starlings volleyball players left Middle School behind them and started on the road to High School:

Emma, Allie, Alyssa and Candace ready themselves to say good-bye to Murray Middle School

Emma

Allie

Alyssa

Candace

Emma Receiving the Delta Kappa Gamma Award

Colleen, Joanna and Savannah ready themselves to say good-bye to Monroe Middle School

Colleen

Joanna

Savannah

Savannah, the ASB President, leads off the ceremony with the Pledge of Allegiance

Colleen receiving an award for three years of perfect attendance:

Ashley and Samantha ready themselves to say good-bye to St. Ann Middle School

Ashley

Samantha

Ashley gives the opening address:

Samantha receiving the academic excellence award

Ashley receiving the Spirit of Saint Ann Award:

Last and certainly not least was Rebecca promoting from Immanual Christian Middle School.

What would graduation be without your friend showing up to cheer you on.