Enjoy the Process

Originally Published via FaceBook on November 30, 2017

I get nostalgic every year around this time. 

Not for the same reason as most people, though. As others start preparing for Christmas and the holiday season with their trees and garland and strings of lights, I am daydreaming of bus rides and airports and team meals and gym time. 

Every December, 64 NCAA Division I volleyball programs embark on a journey. A journey that ends 63 seasons with goals unfulfilled, and ONE season with the picture perfect ending. In 2011, my team was one of the 63 with goals unfulfilled. 

It was an historic season. We started 20-0. We ranked No. 1 in the country for four straight weeks. We were led by a veteran starting lineup in two would-be All-American outside hitters. Coached by the some of best in the country. We advanced to the Final Four for the first time since 1988. And punched our ticket to the National Championship match for the first time in school history. 

But we lost. 

I have never been able to make sense of that loss, but what I can make sense of is the process it took us to get there. Countless hours in the gym. Team meetings where we focused on how we could better function as a unit. Early mornings. Late nights. LONG bus trips, and fighting over exit rows on planes (a battle I never won since I am 5’10” and was one of the shortest on the team). Laughing until it was difficult to breathe, and memories that will literally last us a lifetime. Those are the things I look back on. 

When it is all said and done, only one team gets to take it all home. And whether or not that is your team, as it was said to us following our final loss of 2011, “the sun will come up tomorrow just the same.” So to all teams starting that journey today, I say, good luck and ENJOY THE PROCESS. 

Also, GO ILLINI 🔶🔷