Wednesday, September 3, 2008

My First Experience : Volleyball

‘This is my first essay which I wrote for my Eng 101, one of the courses I am currently taking for my ADP. It took me approximately 30-40 minutes to write this. To put my experience into words, something which I think is not easy but fun to do. Narrative essays, I mean. Yes, I did go through this but there are certain things which I changed. Just a little bit here and there… and well, I did get 18 out of 20 =)’

Volleyball and I were never meant to be for each other; so I thought. I never had any intentions to play volleyball until one of the Topaz seniors came up to all us juniors and made it compulsory for us to participate in the inter-house competition.

“It is important for all of you to participate and make Topaz the champion. Make us feel proud to have you as a Topazian,” she said.

As soon as the participation form got to my hands, the only space left was for volleyball. I looked around and saw the seniors eyes staring at me, waiting for me to sign up. Reluctantly, I placed my name for volleyball. As soon as I walked out of the hall, I felt like I was in a daze. My legs were moving forward but I think I left a part of me behind. I heard exciting chatters on the upcoming inter-house but I did not listen. I was so worried on how would I perform on that day. Anyway, the competition is the next day at 5.15pm at the volleyball court behind the boys chalet. It made things worse.

The next morning, I woke up earlier than usual. It was still dark and chilly but I was very worried that it woke me up from my slumber. Slowly, I crept out of my bed and started thinking of ‘intelligent’ ways to escape from participating. I was concentrating hard on that until I bumped into my roommate, Sakinah, who smiled at me really brightly. She knew my worries but she had this confident look and voice as she patted my shoulder.

“We are going to make Topaz proud of us. Have faith in yourself as much as we have faith in you.”

Those words stumped me. It made me think and feel something I have never felt before. So, I made up my mind to participate but I will definitely inform my seniors on my lack of experience. Who knows, I might be just a reserve and watch them play?

Approximately at 5.00pm, I went down to the volleyball court with the others. The wind was blowing slowly, as if soothing me from my worries. On the way there, I told my senior about my problem and she told me not to worry. We were ten minutes early and had time to practice. To my eyes, everybody seemed to know about volleyball and I felt inferior. When they started to pass the ball around, I struggled every time it gets to me. Being confused and in pain (for it does hurt playing volleyball) is never a good combination. Nevertheless, I could still hear words of support and see smiles on the faces of my teammates.

Soon enough, the match began. I was the reserve and was told to watch and learn. I can feel the excitement and energy as they played. The others and I at the side started screaming and jumping away while giving support to them. They gave all they had when they played and some started to look exhausted. Some even hurt themselves while playing. I thought to myself, “This does not look good. Is it possible that I need to play as well? What am I to do? Am I going to make a fool of myself?”

As these thoughts started to rush in my brain, I heard my name being called and cheers at the background. Is it because… In a daze, I walked onto the court and things started to get blurry. I tried to concentrate really hard on the ball and somehow I felt no pain when I hit it. Was I in a déjà vu? I know I was running to catch the ball, and so were my teammates. By the time things started to make sense, the match was over. I stood quietly and all of a sudden people were cheering and gathered near me.

“We won! We made it!”

Then, I knew what was happening. We were all hurled up together and definitely, smelled of sweat. All of us started screaming away and even the boys joined us. The taste of victory is definitely sweet and it lingered for the whole night. You can see us smiling and laughing the whole day that some might think the victory had caused us our senses.

It was indeed very exhausting but I felt proud not only of myself but also of others. I never imagined I could contribute to my house in that way especially since sports is not my cup of tea. The support I gained from my friends is invaluable for it made me stronger and proved to me that nothing is impossible in life. I now know that we should never turn our backs on anything until we give it a try. To never give up even when things do not seem to go the way you want it to be. However, the most important lesson I learned from my first time with volleyball is that I am never alone; there will always be somebody to hold my hand and guide me towards a better future and will always be there to spice up and add more colors to beautify my life.

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