Volleyball tryouts... there are 70 girls trying out for 3 teams of 12. Almost half the girls are getting cut. Sixers... being the noobs to the school, will form their own team by default. So it's really ~50 people for 24 spots.
Tuesday - First day of tryouts and first day of cuts. I'm standing outside the gym to greet her. She's about to burst into tears to a point where Nina cautiously walks away. "I didn't get cut, but I did horrible." I gave her a hug... and asked her to say Hi to Auntie Nina. (manners, girl, manners!!). Apparently... she didn't get a chance to shine. In the hitting lines... setters didn't give her good sets. When she was playing setter... another hitter pushed her away and took the second ball. None of the coaches saw her two 叉燒s. On and on and on.... "I don't care which team I make. I just don't wanna get cut."
Wednesday - Meeting runs long and I couldn't pick her up. But Joyce texts me, "She's happy." I get home... and it turns out the girls were split up into two groups. Group 1 - all 9 club players, the 2 most athletic 8th graders.... and NN. Group 2 - 12 other girls. Those who weren't in those 2 group - probably getting cut. Wednesday night... we get an email welcoming her to Team A. She was on cloud 9.
Thursday - First official day of practice and it's the Mandatory Parents Meeting. She comes to look for me in the quad shaking her head. (Oh no.... ) After the meeting, she's in tears again, "I wanna quit daddy." Without skipping a beat... without even asking her why... I said, "Ok... let's go. We're quitting." (Heh... bad parenting?) I knew she was just being hot-headed and emotional. But it turns out... she's the "worst player on the team." She "has no friends." It's so "lonely out there." "You won't understand daddy." So I just heard her out... tried not to add fuel to the flame. Agreed with her on 90% of the things. Tried to reason with her about objective volleyball skill evaluations. And at the end... convinced her to talk to her coach. That's why she has a coach. She wasn't gonna listen to me. She convinced herself... that she needed validation from the coach.
My eyes rolled so far back I can see the back of my brains.
Ugh.... parenting teenagers.
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