Personal Narrative: My First Volleyball Team

As children, we grow up hearing that the greatest way to learn something can be accomplished through experience. One of the most valuable lessons that I learned through experience was to achieve something for the greater good instead of pursuing a personalized agenda. I accomplished this when I began coaching Rochelle School of the Arts’ first volleyball team.
Upon starting, I was told that the middle-school students at Rochelle predominately live in severe poverty-stricken environments that generally consist of a single parent raising multiple kids on an extremely low income. After considering these hardships, I felt it was necessary to create an environment where the children could escape their unfortunate realities to enjoy a game that

On the first day of practice, approximately fifteen girls showed up wearing either their school uniforms, or worn-down clothing. I explained the game of volleyball as best I could, but the only thing they wanted to know was why a white girl was wasting her time trying to coach a group of poor, African American girls.
Within the first few weeks, I noticed that they would do everything they could to belittle me and make me feel undeserving of their attention. I understood their lack of wanting to cooperate with an outsider, but it was challenging and frustrating to spend several afternoons every week trying to help a group of girls who had little to no respect for me.
After about a month into the season, I slowly started to gain their trust by enforcing Personal Time before practice every Friday. In these sessions, I would have the girls sit in a circle to talk about their days and/or their personal lives. During each session, it was up to the players to share anything that may be on their minds; this ranged from getting good grades on a math test, to a family member being sent to jail. Personal Time only lasted twenty minutes, but it was a way to show the girls that they always had a group of people who cared about them, to talk to. My dysfunctional team eventually overcame all odds and became more than just