Many people enjoy sports as a recreation. They join activities just to get out there, get some exercise and have some fun. My favorite recreational sport is volleyball. I started playing in sixth grade when the school I just transferred to decided to start a volleyball team. This team was purely recreational. Everyone that wanted to join got on the team. We only practiced for two hours once a week and had simple matches with

other schools every Friday. The team wasn’t that amazing (we got 5^th place out of five teams), but everyone was able to play and we always enjoyed the sport. Also, the coaching staff consisted of a few high school students, my dad, and the school’s gym teacher. The team and the staff knew each other very well, and we even had a few dinners together to celebrate our rare wins.

I had such a good experience that I decided that I’d do volleyball for freshman year in high school. Before I could even play though, I had to try out. So during summer vacation, I trudged over to school and tried to impress the coaches. I got in, and along with the team began a practice

regimen five times a week for two hours each, and had multiple matches every Saturday. These matches were a very different from my first games. We played to win. Not everyone would be able to play in a game, and if we lost, we’d have to run suicides. Winning became a much bigger priority.

The first season ended reasonably well, I had made some good friends and was planning on doing it again next year. I then started to focus on track. However, I discovered that in order to play as a sophomore, I had to do a volleyball club during the off season and summer. This club has about 200 girls, and around twelve coaches all saying, “Game is your life.” The practices are fun, but considerably late, and the three hours of straight volleyball are quite draining.

I still enjoy playing volleyball immensely, but this experience is showing me that the older you get, the more serious school sports get. Whatever happened to just playing for fun? This need for so much commitment is growing so much, that I barely have any time for other activities, and have much less time for my family. So as a heads up to those soon-to-be freshmen, some sports can be serious business and require a lot of time.