But as in any other activity, there's no escape from learning, and even if related to sports and not education, there's always a valuable lesson that might change your thoughts, in this case, the way I viewed certain events. The most important aspect of any team sport, such as volleyball, is the relationship established between teammates. Honestly, from personal experience, trust and adaptability are the assets that embody a team to victory. As in any team, the word selfishness |
As we where playing every game, there where thousands of incidents: lack of oxygen, stress, fights between team members or even the internal beating of the team, which honestly killed the teams momentum; however, in certain occasions, the momentum that was transformed into madness was used to smash off the opponents faces, yet, it could also bring the teams motivator down, defeating ourselves with our own mistakes.
WIth all this idea in mind, there's one specific anecdote and reality where the MOST significant player --momentum-- could NOT be lost if wishing to kick a** and get the gold. The wise words of our captain said: "The only mentality you should have while playing is to think about every point as a new game". As true as it might be, what impressed me the most as a volleyball player was how a new game could arise when the score marked a big difference of 9 vs. 3 in the first points, but at the time that the opponent team reached the 24th mark, while you kept a score of 22, the idea of assimilating that 24th point as any other, was simply impossible.
After three years of volleyball varsity participation I've finally noticed that it's a two digit number that destroys you as a player, destroys the teams motivation, and most importantly, it dominates the seventh player in the court: momentum. It's hard to admit, but, no matter how good you are at a sport, it's all in ones mind; you think and you act. If you kill faith and the ability of ignoring that two digit number, you won't make it, the other side of the story might strike: silver.