Another Day, Another Duty

                               

I'm not near as tired this morning as I thought I'd be.  But, then again, I just woke up.  I'm sure in a few hours, the lack of sleep and extremely long day I had yesterday will start to creep up on me and I'll be like a walking zombie by the end of the day.

To make matters worse, I have a day long training to attend today.  So, rather than keeping myself awake by being up on my feet teaching all day, I'll be sitting at a table listening to a speaker trying everything in my power not to snore out loud.

But enough whining about how tired I am.  It's only Monday, I have a long way to go before this week is over and more games and stuff....so I haven't even begun to feel what tired is like just yet.

Peanut's game last night was very exciting.

Jelly and I got there while the girls were warming up.  Butter was still at football practice, but was going to come join us when he was finished.  

The coach started to make the pre-game preparations...find someone to do the game book, find two parents to line judge...that kinda stuff.  The game book job was filled quickly, but then she stood in front of the bleachers asking for a couple of volunteers to line judge.

I kept quiet.  There were plenty of parents there, and I was there with a 5 year old.  Alone.  I couldn't just get up and leave her so that I could stand on the volleyball court all night.  Surely, someone else would volunteer.

The poor coach stood there looking up at us...and you could hear crickets chirp.  I felt so bad for her.  I knew that we had to provide line judges being that it was a home game...and without them, we're in some kind of violation.

She walked over to a guy that was standing up against the wall, and he agreed to do it.. but then I saw her go to the umpire and tell him that we didn't have a second line judge.  Immediately, I raised my hand and told her I'd do it.  I line judged a few games last year, so I knew how to do it.  I was just a little miffed that with all those people there, several in groups together, I had to be the one to leave my 5 year old unsupervised so that the team wouldn't be in any kind of trouble.

Thankfully, I have a 5 year old that's a pro at being at games...and she knows how to behave.

And in case anyone is wondering, the line judge is a person that stands at one corner of the volleyball court, and calls if the ball is in or out of the side or back lines.  There are two umpires that stand across from each other at the net, but they often can't see the ball when it hits the back line...so a line judge is needed to help determine whether a play is in or out of bounds.

The job also required me to be on my feet during the entire two sets of games.  Five games in total.  

The first set of games got started - and that would be Peanut's team.  The A team.  And within a few minutes, wouldn't you know that I made a call that got a few huffs and puffs from spectators.  

The ball was served from our girls.  It hit just outside the line.  I called it out...point against our team.  I heard our coach yell (from the opposite side of the court and the net) that it was in.  I had made my call, and the umpire had to honor it.  But, if I'm going to be a line judge - I have to be fair.  The ball was out.  

And the way I look at it, if the spectators don't like my calls...they are more than free to volunteer next time to do the job themselves!  

Peanut's first game was so close all the way through.  Right at the end we lost by one point.  I tried not to think about the fact that the one point could be the call I made against them.  But, again, fair is fair.  I'm not going to make bad calls for the sake of a win...that's not really winning if I do.  The second game in the set went the same way.  Seat gripping until the very end.  The girls went back and forth getting a point, losing a point to the other team.  Up until the very end, when the other team took the last winning point.

That's the one part I don't like about line judging (other than standing all night long), is the fact that I can't whoop and holler and cheer for our team.  I'm not supposed to, but that didn't stop me each time Peanut made an excellent serve or play that scored a point.  And there were several of those situations.  I'm so stinkin' proud of her!

In the end, we lost... but by the skin of our teeth.  It was so close.  Both teams played extremely well, and our girls have come leaps and bounds since last year.  I was so proud of their teamwork, their skills, and motivation.  Unfortunately we came up a little short... but I know that this is just the start to the season.  They are going to continue getting better, and are going to whip up on some teams that they play in the near future.

The second set of games were just as hair raising.  The B team are the newbies.  Either just starting out playing volleyball for the first year, or are still working very hard on developing some skills.  The serves aren't as strong, the teamwork isn't as strong, and they are still a little confused about where they're supposed to be on the court.  For both teams - home and away.

But regardless, the first game was close all the way through.  We won the first game by one point.  The second we lost by a couple of points.  The tie breaking game was a nail biting battle to the end...with us coming out victorious by only 2 points.  Which was a great boost to the self-esteem of the B team, I'm sure.  They played one heck of a game.  

I even let out a big jump and yell when we got our last point of victory....very "unprofessional" but who gives a rat's behind?  I'm a team mom...there's no way I can stand that long not making any noise.  

When it was all over, I was so ready to head home.  My feet were swollen from standing for so long.  My back ached.  I'm convinced that it had been pure adrenaline from the exciting games that had kept me up for that long...and the minute the game was over, I could have collapsed.  I just wanted my bed.

We got home around 9PM.  We all made some sandwiches to eat, being that none of us had eaten any dinner, and it was straight to bed for the kiddos.  Despite Jelly being absolutely exhausted, she still insisted on me reading her a bedtime story.  I didn't mind.  It's one new tradition that I'm growing to love.  Pretty soon, I'm sure she'll be reading to me at bedtime.  I couldn't go to bed once I was finished reading, however.  I had to wait up a little longer because Jelly finally lost the tooth that's been hanging by a thread for the past several days.

The "tooth fairy" was finally able to make her pick-up around 10PM...after Jelly had been in bed for all of about 15 minutes, and then I called it a night.  I don't even remember my head touching the pillow...I was out that fast.

Speaking of Jelly...another great week got started yesterday morning.  I didn't even have any car duty, and Jelly still insisted on going to Mrs. P's office before having to go get on the bus.  She was excited and happy to do so.  Jelly has also ditched the taking lunch thing, and now prefers getting a tray from the cafeteria.  It's so nice to see her each afternoon and hear about how much fun she had at school that day...no more worries, no more fear, it's all behind her.  She's now the kid I knew she would be - one that LOVES school.

So, happy, happy all around here.  Tired, but happy.

Well, I better go get all dressed up for my training day.  I am planning on packing some toothpicks in my bag so that I can use them to keep my eyes open.  

Have a great Tuesday!!