Volleyball and Marbles

10-25-11 
    

    We had our best match of the season (in my opinion) against a team that the girls said they really do not like, a team that they kept reminding me when they played against them it was “personal.”  We had lost to this team twice already this season, once in the varsity tournament that our two JV teams were allowed to play in.  The other team got to play in it since it was their varsity tournament, and we got to play since a varsity team from Colorado had dropped out. We beat a varsity team in pool play there (we split and won by one point), but Anna and I both agreed to let JV play in the lower/silver bracket since we might end up playing against our own varsity.  It turned out we played our "little rival" JV team in that bracket, and we lost.  Then we lost to them again on our home court when my mom and dad came to watch.  Aaarghh!
    When we played them the last time, though, ah, it was sweet.  The girls played well, they played together, and they got the job done.  All season they steadily improved.  Becca even set one on her knees at one point and that resulted in a kill.  Danielle was her usual consistent back row self, completely dependable and unwavering in her play.  I realized how badly we wanted to win by how much we celebrated when it was over.  I jumped off the bench like a giddy girl myself!  That is what someone told me, anyway.  I don’t care.  Winning that match was a sure sign of improvement.  I was so proud.  I still am.
    I told the girls early on in the season, soon after we had beaten that varsity team in pool play, that winning against a team like that is like “a marble in the bus.”  That comes from my classroom.  We have a tin school bus that students put marbles in for good behavior.  I’ve had those marbles since I first started teaching.  It hasn’t always been a bus, though; I’ve used mugs, glass vases, and other containers before.  When a marble goes in the bus for a student’s good behavior, it gets to stay in the bus.  It does not come out until the prize for the entire class is won.  Then I empty out the bus and we start over, but not until it’s completely filled.  Winning that match was definitely a “marble in the bus.”  Nobody can take that away from us.

Watching Dan the Man

    Eric invited me to come watch Dan (last name), his brother-in-law, play in the New Mexico-West Texas Mid-Am Golf Tournament at Pinon Hills.  We met him in his cart as he was driving down to the range.  Eric’s father Craig came along, too, and he even rode in the cart with Dan while he played.  It was Craig’s 80th birthday recently, so Dan gave him a dozen golf balls and some golf hand warmers/muffs.  He even gave me two sleeves of Taylor Made golf balls.  Nice of him!
    He had already played one round the day before where he said he shot an 85, but that must have been a practice round.  He said the greens were giving him fits.  I just checked the online results, and he ended up tied for sixth with a total score of 150, a 78 and a 72.  The day we watched he was playing in a group that included the defending champ and some other really good golfer who was wearing corduroys. 
    What I noticed was...

*Club Champ = Me

     Earlier this month, Bruce, C.J., and I got together to play nine holes on a Sunday.  It was the first time I got to play with C.J. again since the surgery, and it was wonderful to see him.  We had our group of three back together again for the first time in a long time.  I’ve heard that three is not a good number for groups since two usually pair off eventually, but we get along just fine.  Eric is talking about wanting to play again sometime soon, though, so I hope he’ll be joining us in the near future.  Maybe next season?  Since it was the Club Championship weekend at Hidden Valley and none of us decided to play in the official one (all too busy), we said it would be our own little nine hole club championship between us, handicaps included.  At the end of nine holes, we would simply subtract 4 strokes from Bruce’s score, 10 from C.J.’s and 8 from mine.  The low score would be the champ. 
    Bruce got a birdie on hole #3, and then I followed up with a birdie on hole #4.  This is how I earned mine.

Choices, Sacrifices, and Priorities-Enough to Hurt My Brain Again?

From the end of my last post a little more than a month ago...

Until next time...

    We do have a BWP Leadership Team meeting this Saturday.  It will be my first involvement in Bisti since the surgery.  I will give details after it is over.

10-23-11

    Okay, I read the end of that last entry, and it reminded me that I did not make it to that meeting.  I chose not to go.  I was on my way, driving through my neighborhood when I just stopped and called Vicki.  My weekend was just starting, and I was overloaded with stress.  My parents were coming to visit and watch a Tuesday volleyball match, the vehicles were not lubed (something my dad is guaranteed to make a comment on), the house was not clean, the yard needed work, we had winterizing to do, and the two or three hours of schoolwork that Belinda and I always go in for was not going anywhere either.  I was swamped and something had to give.  Vicki was very understanding. 
    I am no longer the tech liaison for the Bisti Writing Project; Melissa is filling in until further notice, and it’s a relief.  I don’t remember who I was talking to, but I said I only have enough energy for full-time teaching and coaching volleyball right now, and sometimes not even enough for both of those.  Anything above and beyond might cause some new swelling in my brain.  Okay, not really, but it feels like it might.
    I am not regretting this decision to coach volleyball again, though.  It has been tough on me, but when I look back on this time years from now, I will be happy to say that I got to coach my daughter and my niece.  Sadly, it’s almost over.  This Thursday is the last match for JV.  It has been all of these things: miserable, fun, stressful, exciting, challenging, exhausting, and great.  The girls learned and improved.  What more could a coach ask for?
    It was a sacrifice, though.  I did not play nearly as much golf as I normally would.  I was going to play yesterday after parent-teacher conferences, but we had practice at 2:30, so I ended up not playing at all this weekend.  That’s a good thing, though, because I am using some of the time to catch up on my writing.  I am also not as involved in the Bisti Writing Project as I was before the surgery.  At least I continue to write.

Until next time...

12 Excerpt from My Original Golf Diary-The Indoor Putting Match

10-23-11

      In this excerpt, one of my favorites, I tell the story of an impromptu indoor putting match that took place one night at Dave and Julie's house down in their basement.  I won, but some of the other guys had some amazing shots.

      In other news, I became the unofficial club champ in a match with Bruce and C.J. recently,  Eric and I go watch his brother-in-law Dan (about a 2) at a tournament at Pinon Hills, our JV volleyball team wins an incredible match against a rival, and most importantly, Bruce shoots an incredible eighteen holes at one under par!  Furthermore, I have three birdies I need to catch up on, one when I won the unofficial club championship and two more when Bruce had his best round ever.  My goal is to catch all of this up before Halloween.  

9-16-00
    I have caught up this diary completely on the laptop now.  I haven’t written in a while; so let me catch up even more.  I’ll start with a great putting match at Dave and Julie’s house.  They had a party before school started and

First Post-Surgery Victory and 100th Post!

Written on 9-20-11

     It’s later now, 10:08, and we are driving through Kirtland.  We just dropped off a player who lives out here.  All three teams won, and they did it in the fastest way possible, two out of three for C and JV, and 3 out of 5 for varsity.
    I forgot to mention that Troy’s son Angelo is a gifted athlete.  Troy and Terry were both so proud of him.  As a sophomore, he is a force.  He ran through and around Piedra Vista.  He was slippery, and they could not stop him without great effort and skill.  On one play when he was on defense, the ball popped out of the hands of an opponent like a watermelon seed from someone’s mouth and right into Angelo’s hands as he was running the other way.  He ran it in for another score.  We will be hearing more about Troy’s son Angelo in the future.
    I did manage to beat Bruce somehow one time recently.  It was