Ready, Set, Spike!

Yesterday, Aliza played in her first ever volleyball game!

She has been invited to play on this team for the last two years, but ended up playing softball instead.

This year, I talked her into just giving it a try.  And she rocks!

She put in some extra practice time this week practicing her serve, their team all serves overhand, and it's hard to put in enough power to get it over the net without putting in too much power and serving it out of bounds.  She did a great job and we were able to score many times from her serve.  It falls low at the back of the court and is hard to return.

One of the moms commented that with Aliza's strength, once she finds that sweet spot and gets in a groove, she'll have to work on controlling it...considering she's got two weeks of volleyball under her belt, she's doing great!

Another thing she has worked hard on is the return.  She had a few great returns yesterday.  I'm so proud of her for sticking with it after her first frustrating practice where she felt like she was the worst one on the team.  They have all played together for a couple of years, and she was worried that she wouldn't be able to "hang" with them.  She is learning how to move her wrists so that she can control where the ball goes.

I am soooo proud of her.  She is still trying to completely understand the game and the rules, but she loved it!  Yay!  When we talked about her playing at first, she said, "I don't get it, what's the point of standing there and hitting a ball back and forth over a net?"  When the game was over yesterday, she said, "I love volleyball!" 

The Lady Eagles won their first game of the season 2-0.  (That means they won 2 matches, best of 3...)  I'm still trying to figure it all out too!

GO LADY EAGLES!!!