Middle School Volleyball Team

Serafina decided to try out for her middle school's volleyball team.  She honestly didn't really have time for another activity because she's so busy with dance, but she has some really sweet friends that play so she decided to give it a shot.  Though she dabbled in a volleyball camp long ago and she played well during the volleyball unit in P.E., I wasn't sure what the outcome would be of the tryouts.  Every morning she went to school during try out week, she would check if her name was still on the roster.  She made it the whole week without getting cut!  Some of her friends did.  In the end, she was offered a spot on the "spirit team".  She would practice with the team and attend games, but she wouldn't be guaranteed playing time since there were girls that have dedicated a lot of time to the sport and they would be the primary players.  This was a great offer for Serafina since she needed to leave early every Tuesday for dance and Tuesdays were one of the game days.  I didn't have to feel bad for stealing her away to get to the dance studio. She still got to spend time with her friends, get plenty of practice time and be part of a team. The season was pretty short and they played against the four other middle schools in the district. 

Here she is with Mayan, Makayla and Dasha. 

Watching a game mid-season at a rival school. 

Here she is giving her school's mascot a high five.  This game took place at her school, Huerta Middle School.  Recognize the blonde in yellow next to her?  Yep, that's Sunny.  She plays on one of the other school's teams.  

Huerta's team made it into the finals.  I haven't watched a lot of volleyball and I don't fully understand all the rules, but it was super exciting to watch them play in the finals and win!  

Here's the championship team with their coach.  

All in all it was a great experience, even though she was absolutely exhausted after spending all day at school, having volleyball practice immediate after and then barely having time to change before heading to the dance studio three days a week. 
 

Vollyball Clinic

Serafina really enjoyed volleyball camp this summer so I signed her up for a volleyball clinic.  An old friend of mine runs the program and another mom I know is a coach.  There were lots of girls Serafina knew in the clinic with her and each week they had a dress-up theme.  She really liked it and said she prefers this program to the one she did this summer.  I think it's mostly the friend factor that's influencing her decision.

Today was the last day she attended for this clinic and they all wore their Mountain View Volleyball Club shirts.

 Every time I saw her play during clinic (which was only a handful because I was able to arrange carpool with all the friends we had there), Serafina took what she was doing seriously.  It was great to see her put in attention and effort to a sport she likes.

Volleyball Camp

Serafina attended volleyball camp with her friend Sunny and Sunny's big sister Sidney.  Sidney plays on one of the competitive teams at the indoor volleyball place and we've gone to see her play a few times.  

I dropped them off on Monday and they were super annoyed that I took pictures.  Ha! 

 Kristi and I shared carpooling duties.  I did pick up on Tuesday and got to see the girls play a little bit.

They were there from 9am - 1:30 so they played a lot of volleyball and Serafina was tired when she got home.

 On Wednesday, we had to stop at 7/11 because it was 7/11 day and we needed to get free Slurpees.  Three of these kids worked hard at camp and earned their Slurpees.  One kid is the king of "right place, right time".

 Final camp day was Thursday and Serafina was looking like quite a volleyball player.

 They had a tournament on the last day and apparently Serafina's team name was "Food".  I got this off the City Beach Instagram feed.