Volleyball

Let me admit something here that I have not admitted around my school: I don't know how to play volleyball (very well). I know, it seems like a silly thing to keep secret, but when you are the girls' volleyball coach it is sometimes necessary. By the end of the season I learned some lessons from my embarassing mistakes. For instance, you can't just tell girls to substitute with those on the field, you actually have to get the referees approval first. Not only that, but the substitute has to come from a specific section of the sidelines, and the player coming off has to return to a certain place.

My time on the sidelines was filled with whispering small admitions to a few trusted students and asking them about the rules. Despite the incompetance of their coach, our team still beat the teams of the 5 other schools in our zone and came in first place. This icluded a very well organized team from a distinguished all girls school. Their school is around 20 years old, has uniforms, and coaches that know the rules. They even have set plays. In contrast our students does not have uniforms, the school is only 5 years old, and lets face it, their coach isn't the best volleyballer.

This performance in zonals qualified them for districts, where unfortunately, they were beaten in the first round. They definitely did not play as well in districts as they had before, and some say that this was an intentional protest because I did not let "their boyfriends" come to watch them play. I think that it is true that they would have been more enthusisatic if more students were there to cheer them on, but I don't know how intentionally the consequence followed from my actions.

I was proud of them either way. It really didn't take much for them to do so well either. All they had to was have somebody to shoo away the boys. I found this to be the most infurriating behavior on the part of the boys. They would tell me that the girls were not good enough to play by themselves, and that the boys must be allowed to practice with them so that they wouldn't look so bad. After a few weeks of keeping the boys away pitch and introducing drills, the boys began to realize that I was right and they began to become proud of their sisters (or girlfriends).

I think if the other coaches had done as much for their teams, the other teams would have performed better also. As it is, most of the coaches watched their teams only play one or two times, but they sure were quick to chastize the players after the games.

I try to remind myself that everybody wants happiness in their life. If somebody ignores another, it is because they don't see how paying attention will bring them happiness. I also remind myself that the difference in America is not usually that the coaches are more enlightened, but that their supervisors can fire them.

How neat it would be to live in a society where people valued nurturing others above money. It is easy for me to say since I don't really have to worry about money. I don't really have a lot, in fact I owe quite a bit to the banks because of college, but I have everything that I need. 70 percent of Kenyans live on less than an American dollar a day. It must create a very different psychology to grow up seeing this all around you, and maybe come from one of these families yourself, and then find yourself with a regular salary.

This is not to say that my views are entirely different from all of the teachers. Mr. Mutia really shows his nurturing concern about the students and the school's welfare. Mr. Toiyna, the former deputy, was another example. I met with him recently and he is trying very hard to help his new school, which I will talk about more in another post. I know that the others shine in their own ways also. Maybe I just don't see it as much, because my life revolves around the school, where as they have their own children and seperate businesses in addition to being teachers.

I think that the more proud we become of the school though, the mroe energy we will put into it. Maybe the success of the girls' volleyball team can help us move in that direction.