This post is written by senior libero, Lauren Hokaj
"And once the storm is over, you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in. that's what this storm's all about." ~ Haruki Murakami
This is my last year playing volleyball in college. It seems like just yesterday that Ryan was handing me my dorm room key in coach’s office where we awkwardly met for the first time. It’s crazy to think of the girl I was when I walked into college not having a clue, to the woman I am now who has passion and goals.
It took me a long time to figure out what I needed to do, how I needed to do it, and why, but I found my purpose along the way. I wouldn’t have formed the foundation of who I am today if I didn’t face adversity.
After we went 0-3 this weekend I did a lot of thinking: we have too good a team to let this season go to waste. The challenges this team is facing need to be overcome, and the only way that we will overcome them is if we decide to change the direction we’re heading... TOGETHER.
We are at the point in the season where we’re facing adversity, and we need to figure out what to do, how to do it and why. I know that we can do this, and I’m 100% confident in each of the girls on this team.
The team we have is made up of a very unique group of girls. Each one of us is different, but each of us are so very alike. We all have the will to win.
Let’s think back to pre-season… I look forward to preseason and dread preseason at the same time. I love being back with the team, but physically it sucks. It’s hard, it’s time consuming, and it’s a lot to get done, but we worked our rear ends off this preseason.
We faced adversity when we couldn’t get some of the challenges... and you know what? We did them together. We finished them together as a team. We failed a few challenges along the way, but we finished on top when we started doing the challenges for each other.
So this is where we are today: Facing adversity. Sure we have lost some pretty important games, but are we going to be the team that dwells on it and gives up, or are we going to be that team that gave blood, sweat, and tears during preseason, pushing each other to finish off challenges that we thought were impossible?
In a few weeks we have to face Potsdam, Geneseo, and Oswego. We’ll be facing the mile again (Potsdam challenge), the star agility (Geneseo challenge), and getting to know each other again (Oswego challenge). If we could flash back to preseason, the Potsdam and Geneseo challenges were two of the hardest we faced, but guess what? We overcame them. We even got to know more about each other besides only the good stuff we told each other during the Oswego challenge. We got to see each others’ strengths and weaknesses.
When we face these teams in two weeks, let’s think back to when we ran the mile in the rain, when we couldn’t feel our legs during the star agility, how excited we were to all be together as a team, and let’s think of how great it felt when we all came together for the first time.
I’m challenging our team to a tenth challenge, called the Fredonia Challenge. How are we going to work together to accomplish this like the other nine? How are we going to pick each other up again like we did during preseason?
Do you know what the greatest thing about adversity is? It shows us who we are and what we’re made of. And this team is made up of a whole lot of girls with the will to win.
This season isn’t over yet, ladies.