Volleyball and the Human Emotion 101
It's no surprise that I love volleyball, there's been posts about it before and mainly they focus on the positive (I think). It's time to get into some negatives I experience about the game. I'm not gonna really be sensitive about your knowledge of the game so please excuse any technical lingo that blow over your heads. This is a rant for me, not you.
Men's and Women's volleyball can be really different. There are many similar aspects to the game and certainly there are a few exceptions to the following rant topics, but to me the games are different. Women's volleyball tends keep longer rally's with a focus on defense, while men tend to want to end plays right away. The list can go on forever but my rant topic is one listed above: the human emotion.
I'm not gonna lie, keeping your emotions in check on the court is a hard thing to do. I tell most people one of the reasons why I love this game so much is that you can celebrate by doing whatever you want on the court as long it isn't obviously directed at anyone on the other side of the team. The best bart? They can't do anything about it because there's a net separating your teams. It's like the volleyball version of being a troll on the internet, you are granted safety (at least until the end of the match). Everyone gets affected by taunts and celebrations, missed serves and shanked balls. It's how you deal with it that makes the difference in the long run.
That being said, there are some times when life affects you and you bring that into the game. I'm pretty guilty of it sometimes and it sucks. Usually I play the game to make me feel better, and it usually does, but I'd be lying to you if I told you it didn't affect my game. But that's cool. I take pride in doing my best by keeping my emotions in check during a match. That's not to say I've had a few bad matches myself. Regardless, the real problem is how your attitude can affect the most important people around you - your team. Everyone's got their job, attackers gotta put the ball down, libero's gotta pick up that defense, middle blockers double duty on putting the ball down and putting up a solid defensive wall at the net. Setters gotta run the plays that matter. But hey let's expand on that.
Over the years I've gone through many setters: some who get me, some who listen, some who are the best for everyone but me, and the few that just fill in because we need hands. Some sound advice for anyone filling in: know your hitters, trust them, and keep them warm. Every setter/person is different. They have odd ways of knowing who to set, and why they set the way they do. One in particular loves giving a hitter a second try if they didn't put it down the first time. Mixed feelings on that approach but hey, I'm not an expert. The whole "keep your hitters warm" thing seems really important to me because why wouldn't you? I'm getting off topic here - just some background information before the real rant begins... so how does any of this relate?
Last night I experienced the most disrespectful treatment on the court I've ever received. As a hitter, being actively (and not being subtle about it) not set is insulting and irrational. All stemming from some recent bad times OFF THE COURT (this is important), the setter in a match I played in did their best to make sure I didn't get my chance to be offensively useful. So let's get the rant out of the way... (prepare for shade)
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| Am I even using the term correctly? |
I don't give a flying fuck what happens off the court between us. You leave it OFF THE COURT. You're not a perfect setter. Just because the ball doesn't spin when it releases your hands and is a foot and a half off the net doesn't mean I'm going to crank the ball. I'm a damn good outside hitter and everyone knows that. I'll make the decision to swing at what I want to swing, where, and how hard. You do not dictate that for me. Especially since you are not a setter. News flash, the other hitter wasn't hitting well to begin with at first, but hey, he got more attempts later on and guess what? He was finally putting some balls down. Wish I would've known how that felt that night. Because of your immaturity (and lack of good sets in general when I actually received one), I never got to warm up to be useful offensively. You'd rather back-set a middle, or push the opposite so far past the antennae everyone on our defense rolls their eyes (and everyone on the other side of the net has the biggest shit eating grin I've ever seen). You know what I did? Recognized the issue and played on. I stuck my hand out for low-fives that were ignored by you. Still passed on target when I literally could've put that ball anywhere else but your hands (I can almost feel your scoff as you read this sentence). Got ready for an approach even knowing I wouldn't get set. Encouraged the team.
We lost two out of the three games. To old people and a Latino try-hard sub. Because of you. And you know what sucks the most? Because it was your fault, it was also my fault, and everyone else's fault. That's a team for you. Take your inferiority complex with me anywhere else but on the court where - like it or not - we're on the same team and hopefully we share the same goal: to win the game.
I've played on teams with people I didn't particularly like either. I'm mature enough to know that that doesn't matter because we all stood on the same side of the court, wearing the same colors, sharing the same goals.
This is probably why you "hate" the team you're playing with in an upcoming tournament in the south east area of the US. Ever think that it's not your teammates that are the problem? Ever think that it's just you? Maybe you should just suck it up and play the TEAM GAME with the people YOU CHOSE TO BE WITH?! Food for thought.
I hope you got it out of your system. This league that we play in is pretty low priority in terms of what it means to me, but I still want to win it. Our volleyball lives are regrettably intertwined so there will be matches and tournaments that matter to me more than this. If you continue along this path and fail to GET OVER YOURSELF, then I can make sure that you and I never play on the same side of the court ever again.
But I can't work miracles. If we're on the same side, you can be sure I'll continue to do what I do. You can continue to be a child, or you can start knowing what it's like to be an athlete.
Seriously we should probably talk.
ta ta kids
