Grateful

Hi! My name is Alyssa Scholten. I am a junior on Calvin College’s Women’s Volleyball Team. As I am sitting here reflecting on and writing about the past two weeks of preseason and the past two years on the team, there is one word that comes to my mind—grateful.  I know the returners hope the freshmen will soon feel grateful as well. Calvin volleyball has given me many reasons to be grateful—here are just a few:

I am grateful for the forever friendships formed with coaches and teammates.

I am grateful for a place to go to escape from the stress of school, if only for a few hours a day.

I am grateful for a support system of strong Christian women.

I am grateful for amazing Christian teammates that have become more than role models as I have looked up to them and felt their support. I am now grateful for the opportunity to use what I learned to support the new freshmen. 

I am grateful for locker room dance parties and sing-a-longs to “No Air” by Jordin Sparks.

I am grateful for a safe place that I can be vulnerable, share my struggles, and be myself.

I am grateful for a lot of free food—I mean A LOT, A LOT.

I am grateful for a place where I feel like I belong.

I am grateful for a group of people I trust to hold me accountable.

I am grateful for a team that prays together daily, goes to chapel together weekly, and makes devotions a habit.

I am grateful for situations and circumstances that push me physically, mentally, and spiritually.

I am grateful for coaches that care about not only my growth as a volleyball player, but also my mental toughness and spiritual depth.

I am grateful for the life lessons learned and the character traits developed through the highs and lows of our season.

I am grateful for the opportunity to continue to play the game I love with people I love.

These are just a few of the reasons I am grateful to be a part of Calvin’s Volleyball Team. While there are many successful teams out there, our team’s real success doesn’t lie in our season’s record, game stats, or how far we get in the tournament, but rather in the culture we create. I hope that through this post you can catch a glimpse of what makes our team so special and sets us apart from the rest. I am proud to be a part of such an amazing program and so grateful for all the ways it has been a blessing to me.

Love,

Alyssa