So here's a few...
1. The first is because they are pretty stinkin fun. There are a lot of times where I would rather hang out with them than adults (no offense to my friends), and that very well could be because I sometimes, pretty often, act like I'm still in high school. The fact that they have felt perfectly comfortable pantsing me in front of others for the past 2 years tells you something about our equal levels of maturity.
2. They are clutch.
Our first game of the season was against Seoul Foreign School. I wont say much about SFS except they can be pretty bad sports which makes it even more difficult because they are always pretty good. TCIS hasn't beat them at their home gym in atleast 10 years I think, and when we were walking in some guy said "you guys came a long way to lose". Of course I was fuming, but like champs my girls kept on walking and totally ignored everyone around them. First and second game we pretty much demolished SFS. The third game though, our wheels started coming off and they pretty much did the same thing to us. So going into the fifth game, we didn't start off too strong. I used my last timeout when we were down 11-2...yep. I told the girls that I was going to keep quiet and let them do their thing because I knew they could. My senior captain responded by telling the girls that she is excited for this opportunity to come back and that whether we win or lose we're going to thank the Lord for the challenge. Humbling experience for her coach who wanted to beat this team so badly that I would've been ok with this being my last day on earth if we could just get this win. My girls went on to beat them 19-17.
3. They teach me probably just as much as I teach them. The example of my captain humbling me to the ground is a perfect one. But they continue to do it. Last week we played OSAN which is a U.S. airbase high school. The kids there are American kids and I forgot how mean kids can be. Our boys absolutely crushed their boys team and so did our girls JV. We played last and beat them pretty easy the first 2 games. The third game we lost but pulled it together early in the 4th. So I'm sitting there on the bench with my assistant coach and the score is 18-6 and we are kind of killing them. But their students and boys team are sitting next to us and behind us and absolutely tearing into my girls and hurling some of the nastiest insults at them that I've ever heard. I was so close to turning around and telling them to shutup, to check out the scoreboard, and then starting one of those gym chants where you get your keys out and yell 'warm up the bus' just to remind them they were getting schooled. I did control my mouth...and my fist... and told them if they were going to do that right behind me they could go somewhere else and they all got up and left, but I definitely didn't say what was going through my head. However, my girls just kept playing and smiling, and when the game ended they shook hands with each girl, we prayed, and they even stuck around and talked to one of the coaches.
As some of you know, TCIS is going through some pretty trying times financially so things are very much up in the air right now. I won't go into it, but there is a lot of uncertainty and it can be pretty anxiety producing. These girls are such a breath of fresh air though and I am so thankful for the opportunity to spend time each day with them.
I have to say that I miss my PLU girls something fierce too. They just finished cleaning up big time at a tournament in San Antonio, and as always are unbelievably talented, so if you wanna see some dang good volleyball in Washington you know where to go. I'm bummed I wont get to see the seniors play in their last season but I'm so excited to hear about everything that they accomplish. If you want to follow PLU this year check out http://golutes.com/landing/index. Miss you girls:(
