Tuesday evening provided me with a closer look see 👀 inside the efforts of Head Coach Charity Short (Coach K) and Assistant Coach Sarah Alderman.
I live in a different part of the World 🌎, one where the focus is on the efforts put forth by those involved more so than the numbers of wins and losses accumulated during a given season. Yes, I know that I live in the minority on this one.
For the first time this season we were playing a Volleyball 🏐 Triple Header on The Hill as we welcomed Floyd County to town. This led to Coach K inquiring as to whether I would be willing to start an hour earlier and announce their players in the same manner as I do for the Junior Varsity and Varsity squads.
Of course the answer was Yes and I was pleased to see the manner that Coach K went about preparing her roster for the occasion. The seven players highlighted in green are the 8th graders while the nine others are in the 7th grade.
At this point it dawned on me that this was the final 🏡 match for the team and the seven Highlighted players were playing in their final home match. [The team does play again later today at Christiansburg].
Coach then took the time to list both of the Managers and mentioned just how important they had been to the team this season. Inclusion is a MAJOR priority in our efforts here those this made me smile as well.
New Coach and New Assistant Coach taking over in a program that is run 🏃♂️ in a non-negotiable manner by Varsity Head Coach Cindy Edwards was going to be a challenge for anyone filling the vacancy. My favorite part of working with Coach Edwards is just how much she is vested in her players from beginning to end.
Before I dabble a bit about the Match itself, let’s take a look at the team meeting that took place on the floor afterwards. The amount of caring ❤ and emotion that was being displayed tugged at the Heart strings.
The results of the match were a 3-0 sweep by Floyd County (They played a 3rd set to 15, even though the outcome had been decided). But the amount of effort that went into the match was impressive.
Down 19-12 in the opening set the team went on a 9-3 run 🏃♂️, highlighted by four Aces by a trio of players. Pulling within 22-21, CCMS pushed the Buffalo 🐃 to the limit before falling 25-21.
In the second set, Carleigh Wright finished two early Kills to put the Cavaliers up 3-2. Sadly, Floyd County rode the hot hand of two servers to take a 20-5 lead but even then our Youngsters dug in to finish out the set on a 6-5 stretch in falling 25-11.
The team jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the “Fun Set ” and did their Best to hold off Floyd. The Buffalo 🐃 answered with a 9-0 run before CCMS stormed back on a 9-3 run of its own.
Leading 14-12 and searching for the elusive Set Point while playing in the Big Gymnasium that they all hope to call Home 🏡 one day… Floyd County closed out the night 🌙 by scoring the final four points.
It was fun for me to think that 48 hours earlier I was announcing a NCAA event featuring the #1 team in the Nation and now it was Middle School Volleyball 🏐 and it was equally important to me. Because all 16 of the Young Cavaliers are someone’s little Girl 👧 and in my mind that’s the definition of Equality.
Thank You Coach K and you Sarah (Smiles) Alderman for giving off yourselves throughout the season and Best of Luck up in Christiansburg!
A.S.P.N on The Hill 