Whew!! We survived the season! It seems like it flew by and I cannot believe it's already Thanksgiving time. In the back of my mind I always knew that we would get a chance for some vacationing and family time around Thanksgiving but it seemed so far away when the focus was all around the volleyball season. Now that the season is over, I better do some laundry, cleaning, and packing!!
On top of the volleyball season ending, my first block of teaching has ended as well. We are on a block scheduling system here at Montana Western called Experience One where basically our students take one class at a time, three hours a day, for 18 days; there are four of these blocks each semester. Because I only teach part time, I teach three blocks throughout the year: one in the fall and two in the spring.
This fall I taught a Coaching Volleyball class during Block 3 which just ended yesterday. It was definitely a different teaching experience than having classes that last an entire 16 week semester but I loved it! I had seven students (all boys and only one non-athlete) and it was a lot of fun. Next semester I will be teaching two blocks: Biomechanics as well as Public and Community Health. It looks like Mikel will also have the chance to teach two blocks next semester: Foundations of Health and Human Performance and Methods of Teaching Team Sports.
As for volleyball, although there are always games and matches that I want a chance to do-over, I couldn't have asked for a better first season. This year we went 7-19 overall and 2-12 in conference. We do plan on those numbers going up in the future but it was a huge improvement over the 1-24, 0-14 from last year and was the best season since at least 2005! The girls worked hard and did everything I asked. At times we were over-matched physically by our opponents (I need to recruit some size!) but we battled and improved throughout the season. I had two amazing seniors who I will definitely miss going forward but I cannot thank them enough for what they have done for the program. It was great to be able to have Mikel travel with us and sit on the bench to support both me and the team. Although I'm sure both me and the team are enjoying some rest time, I am excited to get back in the gym and start working towards next season!
