Club Volleyball

Following Ellie's season with CYAA volleyball, we signed Ellie up for weekly classes with a local volleyball club during their winter session. During the first month, the coach talked with the girls about playing club and let them know that there were openings on several teams. Ellie's friend had already joined a team there, and knowing that she wanted to try out for the high school team at Western Christian High School, she decided she'd like to give club a try.  We thought this experience would help her learn skills that would be needed for more competitive volleyball in the high school environment.

Overall, it was not a positive experience for Ellie. From the beginning she felt tremendous pressure to perform by her coach. This, along with her coach's coaching style, created a lot of anxiety for Ellie. We did have a meeting with her coach and the head coach and Ellie did a very good job of communicating how she was feeling. Her coach acknowledged her feelings and although she did make some changes, it still was a difficult time.

In spite of the taxing environment, however, Ellie did learn a great deal about competitive volleyball and grew in her skills. And thankfully, the experience paid off because she made the JV volleyball team at Western Christian High School and her coach told her she would be a starter.

We have watched our girl grow in perseverance through the years. This was another instance where she showed this character trait. While it was difficult and we hated to see her losing her joy for something she had loved doing, we were very proud of her for sticking it out and finishing strong. We look forward to watching her play this upcoming year.