Volleyball and vibe? More like Corona and chill...

How I went from this:

To this:

In less than 24 hours.

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I’ve talked in previous blog posts about why I still play volleyball and I hope that it’s clear just how much the sport and the community of volleyball means to me. However, with the recent situation involving the Covid-19 virus, I’m forced to face the next few months without volleyball in my life… and I’m struggling.

At this point, everything has been cancelled: my coaching season, my club season, and any and all tournaments for either. I’m not really sure what to do with myself.

Part of the reason I love volleyball so much is that it plays such a central role in my social life. I met all of my best friends here on campus through playing club volleyball and now I no longer get the chance to go play competitively with some of the best people I know.

I'm not kidding when I say all I do is volleyball... This is me and some of my closest friends at our boys team's last tournament, which I didn't HAVE to go to but definitely wanted to on my one free weekend...

But I also have to give up coaching volleyball for at least the next month. One of the best parts of my time in college has been the chance to coach. I think most of the time I learn more from my kids than they do from me, but it’s helped me grow as both a leader and a player—I always say that if I can’t execute the skills that I’m pushing my girls to use then I would be a hypocrite. I’m forced to hold myself accountable for my actions and my knowledge of the sport.

And of course I’ll miss my kids. This year I’ve been coaching an 18U team, when I’m only 19 myself. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to establish and maintain a level of respect with them but I’ve actually really enjoyed working with an older group of players where we can work on smaller details and skills and I can actually hold a conversation with them sometimes.

You can see me in the top row on the far left (Yes, I know that half of my girls are taller than me...) We took first place at our last tournament.

I guess this entire situation has really been an exercise in my leadership abilities and it’s starting to cause some stress.

Within 48 hours I had to make the really tough call to cancel our entire club season, knowing that half of the girls hadn’t even gotten the chance to play and that I would most likely have to deal with reimbursements and other loose ends that are never fun to handle.

I also had to share the news with the kids that I coach that our season was on hold for the next month. It was tough to watch these kids who have put almost 10 years into the sort see their senior season ripped away, and know that it was part of my job to console them.

But personally, it’s also been really tough.

Volleyball is my life. It’s where my social life comes from, it’s my source of physical exercise and conditioning, and ultimately it keeps me sane when the stress of school and my work comes crashing in. I spent 3 of my 5 weeknights in a gym and before the quarantine hit, I had planned to spend the next 4 weekends traveling for volleyball as well.

My life went from 100 miles per hour, to practically 0 and I think I’m still in shock… and maybe even mourning.

You can find me in the bottom row on the left. Our last theme Thursday was Spring Break themed before the the corona-virus quarantine hit Indiana.

But, oh well. I guess I’ll just be quarantining and chilling for the next few months instead of volleyballing and vibing. (Okay, I know it wasn’t that funny but I really had to throw that in)