"The Silver Medal" by Tanner N

      It was the last week of June and all we could think about was what would be coming in
the next week. We had put in hundreds of hours of practice over the past 9 months and all of it had been leading up to that one tournament. A few months before the tournament, my team and I qualified for the United States National Championships for men’s volleyball in the 14-under division.  Going into this new club team had been rough and I drove over an hour one-way to practice in order to play on that team for three days a week! Living in an area with no men’s volleyball had been hard, however, I made it work and had grown as a player over that club season and was able to make the team which was expected to place high at the tournament. That year in 2016, the National  Championships was located in Dallas, Texas and was host to hundreds of teams from around the United States, including US territories such as Puerto Rico. Though my team had prepared immensely for this tournament over the preceding few weeks and even the entire season, we still did not know what to expect. Every year, the tournament not only is unpredictable, but there are so many teams and players that are skilled and have been practicing for months.
     As we were going to LAX to fly out to Dallas, I was so excited to travel for the first time for a major tournament like a National Championship. I could not wait to arrive and see what Texas was like. On the plane, I took many pictures of us landing at Dallas Fort Worth Airport

because it was a moment that I never wanted to forget due to it being my first National Championships. Walking off the plane, I felt an immense amount of humidity in the air and finally understood why everybody complains about the humidity in Texas. It was amazing to finally be halfway across the country for this tournament because of the building anticipation throughout the entire year. We qualified for this tournament in the Southern California Qualifier in Anaheim, California and because of that, we were placed into a starting rank of 7th place out of the entire country. Only 10 teams out of all of California made it into this tournament and even qualifying is an honor for many clubs. We were finally pulling up to the hotel in the taxi and were in the middle of this massive downtown area with loads of different people and buildings. These massive buildings were amazing not only because I got to sight see, but because I also got to stay inside of them as well with my family and teammates. We had one day to arrive at Dallas and become acclimated before the tournament began, where we could possibly win or even take last place. Going into the next three days, we would end up winning every single game but one to a Puerto Rican team. This game however, did not end up hurting our chances to get into the top 8 teams luckily. Going into the tournament in 8th place and being able to make it into the top 8 was an honor and my team was extremely satisfied. We ended up having a team dinner that night and went to bed before the most important day of the entire tournament.
     When I woke up, we were going into the quarter finals as our first game in order to be in medal contention. As usual, we got ready for the day and alike any other day we went to the metro station to travel over to the convention center, however the train did not show up. With the game only being an hour away from the time the train was supposed to show up, our team was forced to scurry and find taxis in order to make it on time for the quarter finals. When we finally

arrived, running into the convention center, we were able to warm up in time and were ready to play the team again from Puerto Rico. As the quarter final game went on, we lost the first set and won the second set, meaning it was a very close game which had everything on the line including winning medals. Both teams ended up fighting hard and after almost losing, my team and I ended up saving the game and winning in the third set by an extremely tight and stressful margin. We were not only surprised at our comeback but were proud because of our determination to not give up on the game and ended up winning. At this point, we moved on into the semifinals, where we were guaranteed a bronze medal if we lost, but we wanted to go even further. During the semi-finals, we were playing our rival team from southern California and already knew what to expect from playing them. After a hard battle, we ended up winning the semi-finals as well and moved on into the final match of the entire season for the gold medal. When we were on the stadium court, we were introduced by the announcers and thousands of people watched us over the internet and in the stands as well. In the semi-finals however, one of our key players was injured and as we went into the finals, we were proud of our finish no matter the placement. First or even second place. As the game went on, we battled hard and ended up fighting to take home the silver medal. Even though we wanted to win the gold, being second place in the entire country for our age division was something to be extremely proud of.
     We not only played well, but we also exceeded others’ expectations and confirmed our own expectations and year-long hard work with every single player on the team bringing something to the court to help us win a silver medal. This event taught me that hard work truly pays off and having faith in your teammates and in each other is the best kind of teamwork. This

silver medal to this day is still important to me and will always be symbolic of the hard work that was put in to win that medal with my team.