Winning Performance

A volleyball season passes quickly, but the memories linger. Four years of an athletic career fly by; for the fortunate...videos, a scrapbook, maybe a banner, or photographs of a dusty trophy. Other times sports leave indelible scars, usually around the knees but more often a trick ankle or quirky back. But competitors can embrace the aches, take pride in achieving, and accept the mediocre when it comes. You can only control your preparation, attitude, and effort on the court or the field.

Somebody greeted me recently, and wondered if I had any mixed feelings about the success of this year's team, compared with those when my daughters played. Not for a second. Why?

Every season, every player, and every play create unique chemistry and experience. The vicissitudes of sport have an inconstant ebb and flow, impacted upon by schedules, injury, officiating, luck, and sometimes a simple bounce off the net. The success of the present builds upon the past, like a tree trunk with expanding concentric rings. The new growth depends not only current conditions but previous as well.
Who will carry the standard in the future? We can't know.

By any standard, this season has been and will be a success. Those of us associated with the volleyball program want the hardworking players and coaches to grab the brass ring in Hudson, just as a big victory over Barnstable this season validates past successes. Dare to be great.