I was no more than on the front page of the first paper when Elizabeth, one the players, came jogging over (sent by Coach) and asked, "What are you doing? Mom says she needs your help. " After some debate, I concede and sat on the bench. Warm ups conclude. Teams get final directions from coach. Time to play.
Chaos! There was absolutely chaos on the Carroll side of the net. Total Keystone Cops do volleyball. Within minutes it is somebody low teens and Carroll two. My sense of volleyball organization and decorum are being totally violated.
Enough of this!! I asked Julie to call a time out. I pull a roll of med tape out of my back pack. Tear off two pieces. Mark two spots on the court. Middle front and middle-middle in the back row. I demand that middle front stand on one spot and stretch her hands out to set a bunch block and middle back stand on the other and anchor the defense.
Believe it or not, I still have those two pieces of tape on the front of my old grade book.
As the time out ended, I said, "Listen for my voice. I am going to tell you where to stand and what to do, and if you don't do it, I am sitting you on this bench and you can watch." Somethings never change.
We stopped the bleeding in set one. Lost set two close. Won the next two matches. By the end of the day, I was hooked on some little 7th graders. Julie's secret plan quickly came to be. I took over the team for the rest of club season. Julie, asked me to replace her as head coach. And so it is.