Personal Narrative: My Volleyball Coach

A coach is way more than someone who teaches you about the sport you play, they teach you many life lessons that cannot be taught by anyone else, they are one of you best friends, and they are like family to you. A person that fits all of this is my volleyball coach Sarah. Sarah has had a huge role into shaping me into the person that I am today. She has had such a huge impact on my life since I began playing the game of volleyball.
A time with Sarah that I can remember most vividly was the last game of my senior year but more specifically, our last team meeting when we got back to the high school. This was a tough time for the whole team. The thing that she said there made the team all realize how important we all were to her, she said with
tears rolling down her face “I will be the first to tell you that this is not easy, a team like this is hard to come by”. From that one sentence I was able to learn that I had just amount of impact on her life as she had on mine. I remember walking away from this last moment with the team with weak knees because I was crying so hard. It’s not very often that you are able to meet someone who is so amazing and who is able to have such an impact on so many peoples lives. Sarah was, like she said about us, hard to come by, as sad as it is, an amazing coach, that has the ability to teach you life lessons and you can really connect with, can be hard to come by.
The next thing was the lessons that I was able to learn from Sarah.
I am a strong believer that there are many lessons that cannot be taught off the court or field. Some of the many lessons that Sarah has been able to help me develop are how to be a strong leader, how to work hard, and how to be optimistic. First how to be a strong leader, I believe that Sarah had many leadership qualities that I was able to see and pick up through my volleyball career. Some of those qualities include, a positive attitude, hard working, confidence, and passion. Next she showed me what hard work really is, Sarah loves to have fun, she always is so happy and excited when she saw us, but she always knew when it was time to work. She was always able to push us all to work as hard as we could but she was also able to tell when it was time for a break. Finally she taught me how to be optimistic. She always tries to find the good in every situation; I think that her positive attitude ties in with this. Every game, tournament, or anything we went into she always wanted us to go in with a open mind and a positive attitude, she never wanted us to think to highly or lowly about ourselves, I think that this had a huge role in our success this
year.
Finally Sarah was more than just a coach, she is one of my best friends, and she is like a second mom to me.
I knew that she was a friend because I could trust her with absolutely anything, and she would give the best advice any time I needed it. Also she always loved hearing our stories, almost every practice began with us all giggling because of a funny story someone told, but she also knew when it was time to flip it around and be serious and work hard. But Sarah was more than just a friend, she, like any one else on the team, is like family. The team and coaches from this last season all have a very special bond that will never be broken.
Without Sarah I wouldn’t be the person I am today. Someone who teaches you so many valuable lessons is hard to come by, but when you do get the opportunity to meet someone like this it is extremely hard to let go of them. Coaches are more than just a teacher of a sport; they are a life long best friend and a teacher of much more valuable lessons that you will cherish and use for the rest of you
life.