the benefit of being part of something bigger than yourself

The REAL end of volleyball for our family

There is something pretty beautiful about being part of something bigger than yourself.

It teaches you humility.

It teaches you camaraderie.

It teaches you to work your heart out to be a contributing part of the whole because you don’t want to let anyone down.

It teaches you to look out for others and the importance and velvety security of when they look out for you.

Claire has had a pretty tremendous opportunity to be part of something bigger than herself in her experience as a D1 volleyball player.

Remember how she decided she didn’t want to play volleyball in college after all those college visits?

She was making her way in that big wide world, trying to figure things out.

And then she was contacted by the coach at UVU who asked her to be a walk-on there.

It took a lot of soul searching to figure it all out, but she came out on top of all the searching and praying and decided she was going to take this amazing opportunity.

And it turned out to be just that: amazing.

She didn’t get to play a lot.

She didn’t have any incredible kills or plays where everyone wanted to hoist her up on their shoulders.

But she was a team player, and a cheerleader, and put her heart into all that work.

And she worked her tail off.

She missed LOTS of things.

But she gained even more.

There were the favorite moments like this one where she was standing in the very spot on that court before warm-up where Max stood a couple years before as a BYU player when I walked into the stadium:

I will always remember how this whole family of hers about yelled the roof off that place in joyous cheering when they put her out on that court, and she played her heart out:

(Max was there and her very biggest cheerer, but had to leave before the picture…)

There were fun locker-room moments with all these girls she has grown to love so much:

All kinds of memories on the home court…

As well as away-courts all over the country:

All kinds of travel:

And shenanigans:

We got to watch from home which was fun…

…and also got to make it to a few games.

So fun to see her as part of this roster of powerhouse women:

And also these awesome coaches who built up Claire so much.

It was such a perfect little gift that the very last game of the season was right here in the desert, and CLAIRE GOT TO PLAY THE WHOLE GAME.

We had a whole crew there and loved watching her out on that court.

Then it was on to the WAC tournament.

They swept the number one team to make it to the semi-finals:

Then got matched up with a toughie and took a loss.

But what an amazing season it was!

And how grateful Claire is that she got to be with all these girls day-in and day-out:

So grateful, but also ready to move on to other things she’s been dying to do, like study abroad in London in the summer! (she is dying of excitement about that one!)

So she has wrapped up that volleyball career very beautifully, for herself, as well as for our family.

I’m a little nostalgic thinking of all those years of volleyball (with Max as well as with her), but so grateful we got to be along for the ride (thank you, dear blog readers, for coming along with us as well in so many ways with so many posts about that dang game!!)

And also so grateful for that chance both of them had to be part of something so much bigger than themselves.

We are all part of something bigger than ourselves in many ways, whether it be our families, our communities, our clubs, our neighborhoods. What are we doing to make them better? What are we doing to make ourselves a better “part?”

Kind of an interesting thing to think about.

But for now, GO Claire, so proud of you. And Hoorah for the beauty of volleyball.

It will always have a huge part of my heart for the memories and the things it’s taught my children.

All kinds of volleyball memories:

Volleyball Mania

Pandemic Volleyball

(Lots more links to Claire volleyball in the post)

Finale of Max’s High School Volleyball and my Good Luck Bracelet

Max Volleyball Excitement

Max’s First College Game

There are posts with Elle and Grace’s junior high volleyball careers in there somewhere that I wish I could find!