Thanks Coach

Author's Note: This is a personal narrative story

Have you ever experienced a time where you don't feel like you can be proud of yourself until someone else is? 

"Mine!" I screamed. My teammates adjusted on the court so that they could easily receive my pass. The ball came over the net and I passed it to our setter. "Mine" she called back. "Outside, outside!" I yelled. With a perfect back-set, the ball was delivered to me and spiked over the net in a matter of seconds. Thankfully the other team failed to hit the ball back over. All six of the players that were on the court met in the middle of our side for our cheer. "Ah Team!" we screamed.

I glanced at the scoreboard in what little time I had during our rotation. Five to ten. We were losing, but we had the serve so we could still win. Winning was really important right now, we had lost the first game and won the second. If we lose, we don't play another match today. Which means that we will drop down to play in the 'Bronze Pool' tomorrow, and this team that we are playing right now gets to play in the 'Gold Pool' right after this. I was interrupted from my thoughts by the sound of the whistle. We served and the ball barely made it over the net. Of course, the other team returned the ball with one pass. "I go!" someone shouted from behind me. With my back already to the net, I watched the ball float over to the setter position. "Emily!" our setter screamed. While I spiked the ball over the net, I noticed that the other team was moving towards the net. "Wall!" I shouted, once my feet were back on the ground. All of the front row sprinted to the net. Everything went so fast that I hadn't seen who was able to see who got to the ball before it hit the ground. We were all over the court; running from front to back, back to front. It was insane, and getting kinda tiring. Finally, someone on the other team missed the ball. My teammate that was playing the setters' position came up to me and said; "Thanks for hitting that. I was going to say Emily it's yours, but I kinda ran out of time." she smiled. "You gave me a good set, so all is good." I laughed.

Serve after serve, point after point went by until we lost the ball to the other team. One of their best server's were up. "Uh oh" I said. someone behind me started to laugh. The referee gave the girl the okay to serve. As the ball flew over the net, there was an explosion of whistles and yelling. "Ball! Ball!" the referee shouted. "Ah!" I screamed, because I had turned to look at the ref when the ball was in the air. It had dropped inches behind me and made a really loud noise. My team was having a laughing attack."Yah, ha ha ha, very funny." I called while rolling the ball under the net. Our opponents server was getting ready to serve, so we got into position. "Deja vu" I whispered. "Mine!" "Ouch!" two players from behind me called. Glancing back just in time to see two of my teammates struggling to get off the ground, while the third was forcing the ball over the net. You could say it was a miracle the ball even went over, let alone stayed in the court. How did the other team miss that pass? I 'm not sure, but boy am I glad they did.

 Now I get to serve, and I have to make it. It was game point, and I wasn't about to make my team lose because of one stupid serve. My hand hit the ball so hard that it turned red! Ignoring the pain that was pulsing through my right hand, I ran up to my position on the court. Just in time to see it hit the floor too. Everyone turned to look at the ref, and she turned to look at the line judge. After what seemed like hours, the line judge waved his little flag and pointed both hands to the floor. "YA!" Everyone on my team screamed. They were jumping up and down, and giving me high fives. We lined up and told the other team that they played well, but it really dawned on me that we won when my coach pulled me over to the side and said; "You made me proud Emily."