Carson was a little disappointed when he went to volleyball tryouts and there were only 12 guys there. This is high school after all and with 500 grade 10 kids you would think you'd get a ton of guys out to try outs! Needless to say Carson debated on playing football instead after he saw the prospects for volleyball. We encouraged him to stick it out and make the team good. All you need is 6 good players in volleyball and even if you have 3-4 really good players you can have a good team. "But we don't even have a setter who can set the ball! We have some good hitters but how are we suppose to hit if we don't have anybody who can set us?" was Carson's response. I smiled at him and gave him a wink! The next day he turned himself in to Coach Larsen and told him that he could set. The coach and the players were ecstatic when they saw him set the ball over and over again. "We've got ourselves a team!" Coach says at the end of practice.
So Carson is a setter again! I reminded him that the setter is like the quarterback of the team. You are the one calling the shots and leading the team! He started getting excited about the prospects of the team once he saw the good hits they were getting off of his sets.
Being the leader and quarterback of the team is a lot of pressure and Carson takes it very seriously - sometimes too seriously and he expects too much of himself. This picture is what we call a "Carson time out!" The coach calls a time out just to talk to Carson. To build him up and tell him not to be so hard on himself. After this the team is back in order and Carson gets them going again. There have been a couple of "Carson time outs" this season.
Here he is calling his plays. This set is going right side to Kaden (our power hitter and only club volleyball player on the team).
Here they are in action!
A little blocking at the net! The coach says, "Nice to have a setter who can also block"
I love this picture - one of my personal favourites. Not just because it is a cool picture of Carson serving. . . (Notice the gym we are playing in? It's my old stomping ground! I spent a lot of hours practicing and playing in that gym! Kind of fun going back to Western and walking the halls again reminiscing on all the good times of High School. Then quickly I am brought back to reality of how old I am when I watch my own kid playing in that same gym!) Never thought I wouldn't be cheering for the Red Men but here we are cheering Griffins all the way!
It was a close game and we went to 5 games and came up short by 2 points.
Next time we will beat them!
A quick unexpected dump catches the other team off guard every time!
Even though it is volleyball and Carson loves the sport, he can't help thinking basketball every so often! It is a little joke between Carson and his coach whenever he makes a mistake the coach reminds him that this is volleyball season, not basketball yet.
