gratitude for a volleyball season, and the building of girls

Claire got a volleyball season.

After club was curtailed back in March, and the corona virus raged, we had no idea what this season would look like.

But it turned out that these girls got to play, with a delayed start, with safety protocol in place (talked about the beginning of the season back HERE).

We kind of held our breath on and off, because we live in a world filled up with question marks, but we ended up getting that whole season.

Sure, it was filled with lots of masks and precautions, but we were so thankful for every opportunity Claire got to learn and grow, and to be around these awesome girls who cheered her on no matter what:

That picture up there is a little blurry, but let’s just examine it for a minute. Look at the love on those girls’ faces for each other. Do you see it? That is a beautiful thing.

And it makes my girl look like this, which is also a pretty beautiful thing.

There is something about high school sports.

They have the potential to teach so many things. And Claire’s particular rockstar coach made sure those good things happened. He took every opportunity to build those girls. Their motto is all about joy. How awesome is that for a high school coach to teach?

I think the most beautiful thing about it is that it rippled down to all the girls.

I just love every one of these girls on this varsity volleyball team, and you can just tell they sure love each other too.

Loved seeing that line at the beginning of each game, and loved when Claire got to step out each time they announced her as one of the starting players, her smile showing somehow through her mask:

Talking about masks, who would have believed us last year if we were to predict that our audience would look like this:

…everyone complete with a mask. Isn’t it strange when you stop and remember how much our world has shifted?

Let’s get a better look at those cute masked girls:

And those masked girls sure knew how to get to work!

(I like to practice my sports photography here and there, but just so you know, the more professional-looking pictures on this post are from Donna Mundy Photography…she’s the BEST and got so many great shots!)

Mine are further away like this, but I do love the concentration of Claire in this one below:

Bam!

We had some masked spectators with us from time to time:

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Love them all!

And now, just a fair warning, there may be more pictures than you’d like to look at, so just skip to the end if you’re done with block and kill shots, Ha! I just want to keep my favorites here.

This was one of my favorite moves below (our setter was so good!). She would set backwards to Claire who would do a “slide” to get that kill. Here’s Natalie setting:

And there’s Claire coming in for the kill behind her:

And here’s a video of one of the instances where it happened…it was kind of a crowd-pleaser 🙂

This was fun from our volleyball program instagram:

When my parents came for Grace’s farewell Claire got two sets of grandparents in the stands. Lucky girl.

And always and forever a supportive Dad.

Loved that our missionary got to enjoy all the action as well:

We hold “Cancer Night” as an annual tradition:

They raise money for cancer research and gather those affected by cancer in the community to honor and give gifts:

Op, there she is again:

Love the masked cheering sidelines…these girls are so supportive!

Often those sideline cheers were complete with belly slides:

The best Uncle.

Ok are you sick of these yet? 🙂

Sorry, that’s what happens when I put the whole season in one post!

It was senior night, and because Claire loves these teammates so much that was a tough one.

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She is going to miss these eight seniors like nobody’s business.

Some of Claire’s other friends came once in a while too…I LOVED this one night when Claire’s height was put into good perspective:

HA!

So the season came to a close last week.

And those girls rocked it.

They were 14-2 and ranked #3.

We came off with a great win after the first playoff game.

On to the next game where we were up against a team we beat 3-0 during the season. We were confident and excited.

But what do you know, that team came ready to fight, and beat us 1-3.

Oh it was sure sad! The last game always is, especially in an upset like that. And especially when there are so many seniors with the lasts of the lasts.

But oh! What a great season it was. And oh! how those girls learned and grew.

High school sports really are the best. And you sure learn not to take them for granted when you get them in the middle of a global pandemic!

Hawks forever!