Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! You read my emails, my blog, and follow me on social media platforms and I am SO GRATEFUL for you! I am also very grateful for what I do, guiding and educating volleyball players and their parents as they find the right college and volleyball fit for them!
I want to talk to volleyball players about gratitude :
- Being grateful as a future collegiate student-athlete is easier said than done. High school age volleyball players who want to play in college feel overwhelmed and like they have a mountain ahead of them. It’s hard to be grateful for this feeling and it is not easy.
- Being grateful while you’re in practice running lines or struggling to incorporate the skill your coach is teaching you is not easy.
- Being grateful for your team when you have a teammate you aren’t getting along with or is bossing you and other teammates around is not easy.
- Being grateful when your team does NOT play well and loses a match, then you, your teammates, coaches and parents are all upset is not easy.
- Being grateful for the possibility to play volleyball in college when coaches are not responding to your emails or aren’t available when you had a phone call scheduled is not easy.
- Being grateful when you may be going through something really difficult in your life like a sick family member, a tragedy, or something else no one knows about is not easy at all.
Being grateful when LIFE is not easy can be SO hard!
I want to encourage you on this Thanksgiving to remember to be grateful for the time you have and the things you can control. So much of being grateful has to do with perspective and knowing that…..no matter what, you will be OK, everything will work out and you matter to others in your life…more than you know!
This time in high school is a short time in the grand scheme of life and it helps to look at the big picture. You take the little steps each day to prepare for the next goal you have. If your goal is to play volleyball in college, you have to step on the volleyball court every practice knowing it’s not going to be easy, but be grateful for the teammates that are positive and be gracious to the teammates that are not. Say thank you every practice to your coaches for giving you feedback. Let them know you are grateful, they will coach you even more and have more patience with you, if they know you are grateful…even when it’s not easy.
All of your emails to college coaches should express your tone of gratitude. This will only bring kindness and grace back to you. The college volleyball recruiting process is not personal about you, but you have to take personal ownership of the process and be grateful that you have the opportunity to play in college as you work through the steps to find the right fit for you. The more grateful you are along the way, the easier it will be.
We have so much to be grateful for EVEN THOUGH things are hard and life is hard. The more gracious and kind your attitude is through the grind and the hard work, the more this will come back to you, the more luck you will have and the more you will enjoy life…even when it’s not easy.
Again, I want to say thank you for being a part of the ProActive Volley community….players and parents that want to know and learn more about the college volleyball recruiting process. Happy Thanksgiving!