Volleyball Player Diary - Heidi Kamp
Oct. 9, 2008
Follow the Bucknell volleyball team from the players' point of view. Here is the next installment, courtesy of sophomore art and Spanish major, Heidi Kamp. For previous installments, follow the below links: Every traveling athlete knows the familiar feeling of driving for the better part of a weekend for the chance to face strong teams and come through on a positive note. Although our team did not record a shut-out for the weekend against Army and Holy Cross, we certainly took away valuable learning experiences that will help make us stronger as we face the remaining season. On Friday our team stepped off the bus with purpose, desire and hunger for a brilliant battle that was sure to be hard-fought since Army is traditionally known for being relentless and never giving up regardless of the circumstances. Thus we were ready for the toughest battle in the history of, well…the world I guess. Going into the match as a young team definitely challenged our freshmen, especially on a level they had not yet experienced in the college volleyball world, but that is imperative to our team’s future success—according to the theory of “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” Although our intentions were solid, the team’s ability to execute the game plan and capitalize on Army’s weaknesses fell short and left us in a position of being reactive rather than proactive. Throughout the match we did good things but were unable to firmly grasp the reins and wound up trying to keep the horse bridled rather than maintaining steady focus and confident control of the mare.
But as I said before, we definitely took a valuable lesson from the match against Army and came out strong and ready for a win on Saturday against Holy Cross. Our team walked into the gym with confidence and eagerness to prove our abilities on the court. From the get-go we were fired up and set out to prove that our team consisted of fifteen girls with incredible collaboration, focus and determination to reach a common goal. As could have been expected, Holy Cross did not lay down and invite us to walk away with an easy victory, so we really had to pull together and work off of each other’s strengths in order to ensure a 3-0 victory in their house. After a quick shower, we all piled back into the bus where a six-hour journey back to Bucknell awaited us, giving the team ample time to reflect on the weekend’s events. We certainly experienced some new sweet and sour tastes that taught us that the most important aspect of the game for us is to come together as a team of one rather than fifteen individuals striving to reach the same goal. Since we play our best volleyball when we are having fun and we have the most fun when we play good ball, it naturally follows that no matter the team we play, we must focus on our side of the net and play with a collective heart and forget individual agendas. |
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