Life Update

Again, this is going to be a random blog, but I have about an hour of free time. I'm sitting in the Union right now people watching and have a few things on my mind.

1. I have 12 credits left to complete my degree, and they are seriously haunting my nightmares. Since I'm not planning on being in Lincoln more than a few days for a while (if ever), I've been looking into completing my degree via independent studies. These 12 credits consist of two English classes, a history class, and an elective. My history class and elective will be easy to complete and I'm planning on doing that over the summer. It's the English credits that are looming over my head. I went to meet with my English advisor to see what my options were and it turns out that she is on maternity leave until June. Great. So, I talked to "stand-in" advisor who didn't really know what she was talking about. She did, however, refer me to another staff member in the English department: Laura White. So, I emailed Dr. White and filled her in on my situation and requested to set up an appointment to meet with her. She emailed me back and referred me right back to the "stand-in" that didn't know what the hell she was talking about. Awesome people. I would try and tackle this problem with Dennis LeBlanc (our athletic academic advisor), but an English major is a rarity with athletes on campus so he needs help in figuring out what would be best for me to do. I'm about to just give up on this English department and explore other options with Dennis like finishing at a junior college, or maybe even foreign exchange (when I, hopefully, get signed with an overseas volleyball team).

2. I start up training with the USA team in exactly one week, and I am super excited for a few reasons. First, I get to be with the girls I played with in the spring again (Jenna Hagglund, Becky Perry, Kindra Carlson, Lauren Gibbemeyer, and Carli Llyod). We all got to be pretty good friends and I miss them. I also get to see former Husker teammates Jordan Larson, and Tracy Stalls. The idea of being back on the court with them seriously gives me butterflies! I'm very excited. Second, I get to learn and compete with some of the best players in the world and make myself a better player. I just love chasing dreams. And although it may not be a real possibility, I have set my sights on London. "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you'll land among the stars." -Les Brown. Third, I get to get my life figured out. I don't enjoy not knowing what's going to happen. So, I'll hopefully get to plan out at least the next year of my life; figure out more about the summer training process, what I'm going to have to do to get signed with an overseas team (if I need to this year when the Olympics are only a year away and there are qualifying tournaments during the overseas seasons), what the process is for the year of the Olympics, and hopefully I'll learn more about playing in Olympic qualifying tournaments. And lastly, I'll get back to 80 degree weather in beautiful Southern California.

3. This break has FLOWN by. I've been in Lincoln working out, training with the Huskers, and finishing up my online class for this semester. It has seriously been a blast. I've never been so happy to go to practice. Being back in the Coliseum was a dream come true. I've gotten to see all my teammates and friends that I love so much! And I've gotten to experience happiness to the fullest extent. My heart is truly happy right now and as much as I am excited to get back to Cali, leaving Lincoln and the people here might be one of the hardest things I'll have to do.

I'm flying back to Cali on Saturday the 30th, and I'll be back in Dubuque this Wednesday, the 27th. So, if you're in Dubuque and want to hang out, shoot me a text.

Goal for the next month: figure out my one-year plan. I'll keep you posted as I start to figure things out.

And of course, like I promised here is your "The Office" clip of the day. Enjoy! :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poDLjwSmaW0

Kayla

Longest. Day. Ever.

My schedule for today: Practice 9-12, lift 12-1, afternoon passing session 2:30-3:30. May not sound like a long day, but geez I was riding the struggle bus today. Actually, I was driving the struggle bus today. I wasn't playing that badly, but my body was just tired. I was pretty happy with the way I played defense today. But, it is so much harder than it needs to be because the gym's lighting background is so weird that your depth perception is completely thrown off and it is so hard to see the ball coming at you until it is about a foot in front of you. It is really tough. I find myself blinking excessively and squinting a lot during the play.

My brother, Eric, text me today and asked if I wanted to come back to play volleyball with him tonight...and I would LOVE to! Too bad I'm 27 hours away :( He told me today that he loves reading my blog. So Eric, I'm assuming you're reading this and just want to say I LOVE YOU! :) :) :)

Jess Yanz is gonna be here in 8 days. I cannot wait! We are going to have so much fun! She makes me so happy!

We play the Japanese Youth National Team in 6 days. I'm excited to put on the USA jersey! I can only imagine the goosebumps I'm going to get. And back to the good ol' high school days at Dubuque Wahlert, I'll be wearing the number 1 once again.

This blog was kind of a cluster of randomness. But, here is my third journal entry for my Leadership Class. Enjoy!

Journal Week 3: January 31^st, 2011

Where My Values Come From; How I Live Them

                As I have gotten older and experienced different things, the number of values I have learned and began to emphasize has grown as I have grown up. I got a lot of my values from my parents and my brother, and a few more when I went through college. When I was a young volleyball player, my parents coached me for most of my career up until about my junior year of high school. They were always there telling me where I went wrong and how I could fix it. They taught me to always work hard; never do anything half-ass. Sometimes they even showed me tough love. My first summer at Nebraska, I was super homesick. I called home crying every day. They would just ask me one question, “Are you ready to quit?” Of course my answer was “no”. During this three month period of my life, my parents taught me that anything worth accomplishing wasn’t going to come easy. Never give up.

 I’m a year and a half younger than my brother, Eric, and I was always playing sports with him, whether it was street hockey with the neighborhood gang, or dodge ball in the back yard.  Shoot, we even raced to the car every opportunity we had. He played baseball and football. But, I think his heart was set on baseball. That is what he was best at and that is what he pursued in college. He never had anything handed to him like I may have at times. He wasn’t always the starter in either high school or college (even though HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN). He was probably pretty pissed off about it, but he just kept working hard because he was passionate about the sport. He loved it and I know that when he did eventually give up baseball, it was probably a pretty tough decision. But, he didn’t let his passion die with baseball. He kept a passion going for everything he ever experienced. He fell in love with Dance Marathon at University of Iowa. He raised money and supported dancers and families affected by cancer. And NONE OF IT was for his benefit. Their slogan was “For the Kids!” It wasn’t for him. Around this same time, I was at Nebraska playing volleyball. Eric helped me understand that it isn’t always about me. Sometimes a passion and love can be generated by helping others to succeed.

                This brings me to my Nebraska volleyball days. It was at Nebraska that I learned responsibility, discipline, commitment, trust, and love. It definitely takes responsibility to be a great student-athlete. Our time schedule is crazy and there are so many things that you have to stay on top of just to keep your head above water. My teammates and coaches taught me trust, commitment, and love. I learned what it felt like to love something and my teammates with all of my heart and I learned what it felt like to be 100% committed to something. Every ounce of energy, every ounce of my being, and my entire heart was given to Nebraska volleyball and my teammates. I’m still trying to get some of that back for my next adventure in life. But, I’ll probably always leave a part of my heart there. 

Kayla

Gold Medal Monday

That was the theme of today's practice because last Monday's practice was a complete disaster. However, today was not that much better for me. I kept screwing things up that I know I'm capable of doing. I mean I've done them before. Example, back set a perfect ball to the leftside hitter. I've done it before and today I'm just chucking balls everywhere. And to make things worse, I let myself get frustrated and didn't move on to the next play. Which was stupid for me to do. Lesson learned. But, the universe made up for it in three ways. First, I found a dime right before lunch. I was confused when I heard about the dime theory at first too. Dimes are less common to find just lying around. Pennies and quarters are everywhere. Some of my teammates told me stories about people who were having a rough time and prayed to God to send them dimes to show them that He was still with them. They would then come across thousands of dimes or dimes would show up in large quantities everywhere. Well, God sent me a dime today. May not mean much to you, but it made me smile. Second, we got to sit down and have lunch with Karch Kiraly today and listen to many amazing stories that he told us about his career and his family. It's just amazing to listen to someone like that. In the presence of greatness hearing about things that at this point in my life I can only dream of accomplishing. Lastly, I received my very late birthday package from Jess Yanz today. It was Resee's Hearts and the book "The Hunger Games" and the movie "Lilo and Stitch". So, it turned out to be a pretty good day.


Anyways, staying true to sharing my class journals: here is the second journal entry for you to enjoy.


Journal Week 2: January 24^th, 2011

What You Know About Yourself

                What do I know about myself? I know that I am quiet and not all that outgoing. So, it was no surprise when my test results told me that I was an introvert. I know that I love sports (I’ve played volleyball and softball). My family is a volleyball and baseball family, and both my parents and my brother were great athletes and are very knowledgeable in the sports world. I know that I will work my butt off to accomplish my dreams, but when given the appropriate opportunity, I love to be lazy. I know that I find joy and inspiration in reading, writing, musicals, art, beautiful scenery, and daydreaming. I know that I am a homebody. I would choose sweatpants and a movie night over going out clubbing probably 80% of the time.  I know that I have a lot of built up love and inspiration in my heart that is waiting to burst out of me. I think I have been in love once. I may still be in love today.

                What do I know about my volleyball self? I know that I am hardworking, determined, and disciplined. I started my leadership days off being a quiet “lead by example” kind of player. But, throughout college, I have developed into a more well-rounded leader. However, I know that communication is still my greatest weakness. I know that if I don’t do something right, it will eat at my very soul until I perfect it. I know that I am always challenging myself to be better, even though my body, heart, and soul may experience days that throwing in the towel sounds so beautiful. I know that I am unsure of myself 75% of the time but I keep a pretty good game face on close to 100% of the time and keep grinding through my anxieties both on and off the court. I know that one day, only after I have conquered the world, that I will be 100% sure of myself and satisfied with my career. But, until I accomplish everything I want to accomplish, every day I have to fight off my self-doubt. I wonder whether or not I’m good enough for the goals I have set out to achieve, but I know that I won’t rest until I reach those goals. 


Kayla


P.S. I am setting a rule for this journal entry. No questions.

Oh Crap! I'm Still In School :(

So even though I am in Anaheim playing volleyball, I still have a terrorizing 15 credits left of college looming over my head ready to stomp all over me when I do actually attempt to take them out. And my academic advisor, Dennis LeBlanc, bless his heart, has me in a correspondence course this semester. He knows me well enough to know that if I don't finish school ASAP I'm going to struggle with it down the road. So, I am in an online Leadership Class. For this class, I have to read two books: Tuesdays with Morrie and Coach Wooden's Leadership Game Plan for Success, and I will be doing a lot of journaling. So, I thought it would be fun to share my journal entries on my blog. They aren't long but they have a lot to do with my volleyball journey and who I am. So here is the first journal entry. Ignore the dates on the entries...I'm a little bit behind in my class (okay five weeks behind) but, luckily my teacher is really cool about everything.

Journal Week 1: January 17^th, 2011

Expectations of this Experience

                I have had a few friends take this course, and after recently talking to one of them about their experience, they told me that they learned a lot about what kind of person they are. So, I guess I’m not entirely sure what to expect from taking this course. I like to think I know who I am. But, seeing as how this is a leadership class, I’m expecting to learn more about what kind of leader I am and what it’s going to take for me to be a great leader. What does it even mean to be a great leader? What does it feel  like?

                I’ve played volleyball at the University for the past four years and by junior year I was looked at as a leader on the team, and I was aware that I was a leader. Maybe it was because of the expectations that were put on my shoulders, maybe it was because I set the bar in practice (if I even did), I’m not sure exactly why but I was a leader. The sad part is that I never really knew whether I was a good leader or not. People would tell me that I was a great leader that they looked to me, but I never really felt myself being a good leader. I could feel the love and dedication in my heart every day for my teammates, but in a way I was in a constant panic about whether or not I was being great for my team. It was the scariest thing in the world. Knowing that my team was following me, but not having any clue as to where I was leading them. Or even the thought that I was failing as a leader and that my team was following me off a bridge and I didn’t know how to turn them around. I know that this is just me overreacting, but I never actually learned was leadership felt like emotionally, physically, spiritually, etc.

                As I’m moving on to the next chapter in my life, and as I hopefully (fingers crossed) keep moving up the USA ladder, I’d like to discover more about what kind of leader I am and what it feels like to be a great leader.

Kayla