Writing with Passion

Every college professor I have had in my education classes has told me that I have to have students write about things they are passionate about. Guess what, they're right! I was going through this huge binder I have of all my old papers I wrote in high school, (Yes, I have all of them. I guess I knew I was going to be an English teacher, haha) and I found a lot of papers about VOLLEYBALL, something I was definitely passionate about. One of my favorite ones is entitled, "3 Types of Volleyball Players." I wrote it in 11th-grade. It's pretty funny. Here it is:

At the Kettering volleyball camp for children twelve and under, at the Kettering Recreation Center, many different types of children appear. Most of the players still need to learn all the skills of the game. More concerned about having fun rather than developing any real talent, they try to play volleyball. Each one of them has his or her own unique personality, which makes the camp fun and interesting. At a little kids' volleyball camp, three types of players exist: the all-star, the drama queen, and the cheerleader.

Every year at the volleyball camp, that one kid who has been blessed with athletic talent and excels at everything shows up. This child, known as the all-star player, makes all the other campers look bad. More than likely she has had an older sibling who has played volleyball before or she comes from an athletic family who has been working with her since day one. Dressed in a t-shirt from a previous camp and spandex, her Adidas kneepads protect her knees. She can bump, pass, and spike better than any other child in the gym. When taught a new skill such as serving, she immediately tries it out and practices it over and over until successful. This camper tries to help everyone else by telling them what they have done wrong by demonstrating how to do it the right way. All the other players look up to her and want her on their team when asked to scrimmage. It is her parents who come a half hour early to pick her up just to watch and see her improvement. At the end of the week, the Camper of the Week award goes to her for her amazing talent and athleticism.

The drama queen meets the requirements of the most annoying camper who usually ends up driving the coach crazy. Being the shortest and skinniest girl in the whole gym while looking scared and timid all the time, she stands away from everyone else. With her tiny framed glasses and pink flowered outfit, she always looks around cautiously while she stands and bumps a volleyball to herself. While playing volleyball on the court this girl stands with her hands together waiting for the ball, but when it comes to her, she either swings and misses or steps out of the way. This usually irritates the other campers who already want her to leave. No matter where this player stands in the gym, no matter what this player does, the ball will always hit her when she least expects it. Her whole body, especially her head, attracts all the flying balls that travel throughout the gym. Of course, when this happens, she will go up to the coach gasping for breath crying about how her new titanium glasses almost broke and insists she should get to sit out for awhile. The only parent who comes in at the beginning of the camp every day to talk with the coach about her daughter and how worried she is is this camper's mother. At the end of the day, she runs into her mother's arms and tells her about her dramatic experience.

The last type of volleyball camper, who enjoys camp the most, is the cheerleader. As the social butterfly of the camp, she wants to be everyone's friend and sometimes is overly friendly. Every day she wears a different bow in her ponytail. Usually full of energy and hard to control, she runs throughout the gym wherever she goes. She loves being the center of attention and always wants to be the best friend of the high schoolers who help out. Whenever the helper enters the gym she jumps up and runs to give them a huge hug and hangs onto their arm the entire rest of the camp. While playing on the court, she shows off her gymnastic talent by doing cartwheels all over the place. She starts all the volleyball cheers that can be heard throughout the gymnasium. When the coach passes out t-shirts to all the campers at the end of the week, she makes sure that everyone signs the back of it with her cool pink Sharpie.

Each of these campers, the all-star, the drama queen, and the cheerleader, make the volleyball camp unique. It wouldn't be a normal group of children if all the campers acted and learned the same. Instead, they all have their own distinct personalities that make the week fun and interesting. They all come to camp to have fun and meet new people. Hopefully in the end, they leave with good memories and even learn a little bit about volleyball. :)