“2nd Place”
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Sometime 2nd place is 1st place. “Don’t worry grandpa I got this,” my granddaughter said to me as she calmly walked up to the service line. I am blessed to have a daughter and granddaughter the same age going to the same school. At the time, they were both in the 8th grade. On the way to school one morning I get the question, “Dad/Grandpa are you coaching our 8th grade volleyball team this year?” My response, “Well I believe your volleyball skills have soared past my coaching knowledge. It might be best to have a more knowledgeable coach this year.” I get a firm response, “Okay, we will let Coach Cannon know that you’ll be our coach again this year.” I watch them exit the car and happily walk off to enter the school. Well, it looks like I am coaching 8th grade volleyball this year. I have been their volunteer middle school volleyball coach since 5th grade. Fifth grade we were lucky to win a game. Sixth grade we were knocked out of the middle school tournament in the first round. Seventh grade we were two points away from making it to the finals, but due to a coaching error, yep, that would be me, we lost. Their faces are engrained in my memory. Co-ed, not tryout, no cut team. Players are placed into teams by the athletic director. Of course, my daughter and granddaughter are always on my team. This particular year our school has enough players to support two teams. We have a good season and prepare for the tournament. 8:00 AM Saturday morning we begin pool play to decide seeding for the tournament. Tournament play begins that afternoon. Fortunately, we go undefeated during pool play and get a first round bye. Game 1 of the tournament Saturday afternoon we replay a team we had played that morning. We win the first set but lose the second. We take the third set and advance. Semi-finals. We are now playing our “sister” team from our same school. We had discussed earlier in the season we would, most likely, have to beat our “sister” team to get a chance to win the tournament. For some perspective our sister team was much more athletic having two of the tallest and athletic boys in the school and girls that had a legitimate shot at making the high school varsity team as freshmen. In addition, they completed their pool play earlier in the week. This was their second game of the day. This was our fifth. We had something they did not. We were a team. They supported each other. They celebrated effort and moved past mistakes. Set 1 did not go well, losing 15-25. Prior to the second set we discussed that each set is like a new game. It will have a new energy and momentum. Controlling the ball controls the game. Keep supporting each other and trust each other. That is what you have done all season. Let’s get it done! We enter the second set serving first. The player serving hasn’t served well all season. She starts with an ace and her teammates protect the next two serves. We go up 3-0. We trade points until our defense starts to take over. We win the second set 25-19. We have taken them to the third set. Third set is played to fifteen. Win by two. In our huddle before the last set the conversation was the same. Keep trusting yourself and your teammates. We take a 4-1 lead then trade points. They finally pull away and have a 12-14 lead. We are one point from losing. They serve out. 13-14. My daughter is up to serve. We protect her serve. 14-14. Her next serve is almost an ace, but they make a great defensive play. 14-15. They celebrate, their parents cheer knowing they are one point away. The gym goes quiet for their serve. We receive the ball and pass to the net, where our smallest player makes a big play. The gym erupts we take the point. 15-15. My granddaughter is up to serve. As she walks by me on the sideline with the ball in her hand, I began to tell her, “Take a deep breath and focus on each serve.” She doesn’t let me say a word. She doesn’t look at me. She walks by and says in passing, “Don’t worry grandpa, I got this.” First serve. Ace! 16-15. The gym erupts again, and again, goes quiet for her next serve. Second serve. Ace! 17-15. We just beat the better team. We are going to the final game! I would love to tell you we slayed another giant in the final game. The team we faced in the finals also had not played all day. It was their third game. This was our sixth. During a timeout I looked at a group of kids that had put all they had into that day. It was now 8:00 PM. They had been competing for 12 hours. I did what a coach is supposed to do and asked them to dig a bit deeper, but they were exhausted. They fought hard but came up short. Walking to the car my daughter confessed, “I was so tired I was kind of glad it was over. But the good thing is we are number one in our school, and I am really happy about that.” I responded, “Beautiful, you and your teammates are #1 in more ways than you may realize.” Sometimes 2nd place is 1st place.