Playing competitive volleyball is something that I never thought I would ever do in my life. Don’t get me wrong, I love sports, but throughout my life, I could never commit to a sport. During my youth, I spent a lot of time trying to train for sports such as swimming, basketball, tennis, and track. Although I put in the effort, I never became interested in taking my talents further, and thus I lost interest. This would occur for each sport that I tried, and eventually, I gave up on my pursuit.

During my Junior year of high school, I vowed to focus only on academics, never giving in to any distractions. However, just like I couldn’t commit to a sport, I failed to commit to that goal and ended up skipping my last class to join my friends for a game of volleyball (leisure is important anyway). Keep in mind, I was a total stranger to volleyball, barely able to play and barely able to understand the rules. Regardless, I quickly developed a liking for the game. There was something distinct about being able to smack a ball as hard as humanly possible onto your opponents. Each day after school me and my friends played, and with each session, my interest grew. It grew so much that I began to take it seriously, practicing with my friends and in my neighborhood tennis court alone. Eventually, tryouts for the high school team came, and to my surprise, I made the team. That was the start of my volleyball career.

I continued to play volleyball through my senior year, and my skills became better. However, as college started to draw nearer, I felt that my career was coming to an end. I didn’t know whether I was going to make the team or not. Playing on the college team is a big step in skill. Unconfident, I contemplated not trying out, and giving up on volleyball. But with the aggressive convincing of my friends, I decided to suck it up and try it out. Once again, I was VERY surprised and ecstatic to find out that I made the team.

Making the UGA volleyball team made me realize that, as cliche as it sounds, hard work and dedication make anything possible. It taught me that it is never too late to achieve anything and that I shouldn’t be scared to aim high.