It's the Little Things

It’s the little things

There are only a few, broader scope ideas that you can gather from watching a Calvin volleyball game, staying in the dorms with the players overnight, or just observing the way the players interact. You may see that these ladies love spending time with each other, genuinely care for each other, and enjoy playing the game of volleyball together. Before walking into this program, I knew this team had something special going on but I had no idea Calvin volleyball was this incredible. It turned out to be better than I thought x1000. So what’s the secret to making this journey so memorable?        

It’s the little things that make your four years during Calvin volleyball unforgettable. Many of you may not even know about the small things that we do as a team as a part of our weekly routine. Though there are far too many to list, I’m going to do my best to give you the quickest glimpse of what it means to be a part of this program.

One thing that you will never fail to feel is love. This team has hearts of gold and they are not afraid to express their affection and appreciation for one another. There is no way you can’t feel cherished when walking up to your locker to find a small hand written note from a teammate. We make it a goal that each home game we will write a small encouraging note to our assigned prayer partner for the week. Another way we demonstrate our love is through something we like to call affirmations. After two long games, a lift in the weight room, and a long bus ride ahead of us, the most incredible feeling is having the team going around and saying a few things of why they love you and how you contribute to the team. We finish each session out by laying our hands on the player and “lifting our prayers up to God”. Not only do we love on each other but we like to love on others. Once a week we pull out a stack of thank you cards and send notes to anyone and everyone that has helped us individually or as a team. It is quite amazing to reflect on the many different people who do a variety of things to contribute to Calvin volleyball.

Something that I will not take for granted over the next couple of years is our fellowship with one another. Long days of class can be exhausting but showing up into the locker-room with 18 smiling faces is the best thing to brighten my day. After a couple of hours putting in work in the gym, a majority of us head over to the dining hall and eat a meal together. There are few meals that we don’t get odd glances from other tables as they watch us laugh so hard or throw apples into the air and stab them with our forks. We finish up our food and giggles and the freshmen head off to the library together (don’t worry mom and dad we actually do study around here). No study session is a dull one and in fact we have already had a noise complaint…oops! We finish up our day there around 11 and I don’t mind waking up and doing it all again. These women are my best friends and I wouldn’t mind spending every drooling moment with them (but I know that wouldn’t be healthy ;)).

One of our big focusses this year has been enjoying the process and not just waiting for results. This means that we do not want to take for granted a day we have with each other. Whether we have practice, a game, or just time to hang out we want to make the most of it. I think a lot of credit goes to our coaches and captains who have cultivated a safe and easy environment for everyone to feel that they can be themselves around each other. This makes the moments we share together way more enjoyable. Some of the “little things” that contribute to this have been hanging up ping pong balls, arranging the bus seating, our post-match evaluations and having devotions together. At the beginning of the season everyone wrote two things on ping pong balls that they felt would describe a perfect team culture and environment to be a part of. For example, one may have been to have 100% confidence in ourselves and in our team during every game and practice. Once we had a jar full of these goals, after each practice coach reads the ball to the team aloud and we consider how that could be attained. Another thing that contributes to the vibe of the team is switching up our bus seats to make sure everyone has a chance to sit by new people. Whether you’re sitting by someone who has the same favorite flavor of ice cream as you or someone with the same eye color, you know you can always have a good conversation. Apart from connecting with each other, a good way for us to connect with our coaches, is through our post-match evals. After each game we are given a sheet to reflect on the match. We can state the good the bad and how we genuinely feel. I think this has been a great way for coach to stay on track with our feelings and we love receiving our sheets back with some wise words from coach written upon them. And of course, the team devotions. Devotions lead by coach has allowed us to be vulnerable and challenge each other in our walks of faith. I’m sure many can say it is the highlight of their week.

Though some of these things are just “little things”, these are the parts of our routine that make Calvin volleyball so great. Sometimes these things get repetitive and exhausting, but they are a crucial part to making our program the most memorable during the days of our Calvin volleyball career. I am so blessed to be a part of this program.

With love,

Abby Gorter (lil’ G) #5

Woodbury, MN