Personal Narrative-It's Time To Play Volleyball

How many times should a volleyball players shoe come off while playing? You would assume zero and you are correct but that is not what happened to me. It was a hot sunny Saturday morning in the Downtown Phoenix area. My team and I were at the Talking Stick Resort Arena for our regional volleyball tournament. After we were checked in we started to get on our shoes, jerseys and kneepads. Even if unexpected things happen or mess me up, I still love playing volleyball. It all started when the referees called for captains to determine which team would serve first. The other team ended up getting the serve. We stood on the other side of the court watching the team we were going to play to see how each of the players played. Once they were done warming up, we started our warm up and not once did my shoe feel too loose. After my team finished warming up we went to high five the other team and said good luck. We got in our positions on the court so we could start. “TWEET” is the sound that the whistle made that started the match and the other team served to us. We started off trailing
3-0, then we got the next point and from there we started going on a run. I wasn’t playing at the time so, I was off on the sideline cheering with my other team mates as well. So a couple of points go by, then it’s finally my turn to sub in the game with my setter. While playing one of my team mates hurt her ankle, so we had to take a mini break to make sure that she hadn’t broken anything. A few more points go by, then it’s my turn to go back and serve. I make my first serve. It is a deep floating serve that seems like it is about to go out but drops into one of the back corners, and it turns out to be an ace. When I go back for my next serve I start my serve pep talk in my head. “Alright, let’s go, you can do this, just over and in, make sure to keep your elbow up high” is what I tell myself as I’m about to serve. The referee blows the whistle and I know it’s time to serve. I start moving and then I jump, but for some weird reason when I come back down I’m missing a shoe. I stop for a second and look around and I see it lying on the floor off the court behind me. I’m contemplating about going to get it. “Savi! Pay attention to the court now!” my coach yells at me while laughing and I say “But coach I’m missing a shoe”! He then tells me that he does not care and that my team needs me. Turning back around to the court and notice the ball is coming towards me. So, I have to pass the ball, but without one shoe it is actually quite difficult because I keep sliding everywhere. I was really happy because they were actually good passes, so I didn’t care that much. Once the play was over, I went back to and got my shoe, put it on and tied it really tight just to make sure that it wasn’t going to come off again.
While I’m doing that, I can still hear all the parents, my teammates and the other team laughing because of how odd it was that my shoe came off while I was serving. Since we got the point, after my shoe is on, I serve again and we kept on playing like nothing had ever happened. We finished up the game in two sets because the team wasn’t that much of a competition. When we were telling them good game, the coach of the other team told me “good job” and “way to keep playing without one shoe on”. I just laughed and said, “thank you”. There are things that happen like this that make me love volleyball so much and why it makes me happy. Since this has happened to me, I know to make sure that my shoes are tied tight so I don’t have another
mishap.