Beach volleyball is one of the most emotional sports I’ve ever played (A poem… kind of)

Losing one important game can make you want to quit and question everything that you’ve been doing until that point. It makes you wonder why you’re still pursuing something that seems impossible to achieve sometimes. It makes you angry. It makes you sad. 

And the worst part is… it makes it so easy to place blame. 

If you played well, it’s your partners fault. If you didn’t play well, it was your fault. Either way sucks. 

Losing makes you not want to look at instagram. To see all the success that other people had. Losing reminds you that you’re not where you want to be. And other people are. 

Losing makes you feel like you’re a joke. Losing makes you question everything. 

And on the other hand, winning. Well, that’s a high like no other. Winning is absolute heaven. 

Winning makes you feel like you’re on top of the world. Like you could possibly make it to the Olympics. 

Winning is glorious. 

Winning fights all doubts you’ve ever had about yourself. Winning makes you believe in yourself again. That you can do it. 

In our sport, the differences between teams are razor thin. Anybody could beat you any day. Everyone’s that good. 

It’s hard to remember that when you lose. 

I thought I was ready for the lows, but nothing prepares you for that. You still feel empty. You still feel like you deserved better. You still feel hopeless. 

The highs and lows are hard to manage in such a short time. I wish sometimes that the highs weren’t so high and the lows weren’t so low. Just to have some consistency. 

But that’s not our sport. 

It never will be. 

There is so much at stake. There is always pressure. No easy games. 

You have to be ready for everyone because we all want the same exact thing. 

Beach volleyball is one of the most emotional sports I’ve ever played. It is hard to handle. But I know I’ll also be okay.