The Fletcher Family: RidgeValley Volleyball Season

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

RidgeValley Volleyball Season

When the high school season of volleyball ended back in November the big question became whether Abigail would play club volleyball during the off season. We knew that likely half of the games during the season would be on Sundays and that many teams held practices on Sunday as well. I looked at several teams in the area and all of them were holding their tryouts on Sunday. I knew there are other girls that play on clubs teams that don’t participate in Sunday sports, but how do we even get on the team if all the tryouts are on Sundays? We emailed a few coaches regarding alternative tryout dates and not a one responded back. It looked like our decision would be easy, no club volleyball, but then just a week or so before tryouts RidgeValley, the local Snoqualmie Valley club, changed their tryout date to a Monday and we went for it.

The RidgeValley director is actually our head high school volleyball coach so she knew Abigail’s commitment to not playing on Sundays and when they offered her a spot on the team they told us they would support our decision and would take an additional player on the team since Abigail would miss many of the tournaments.

Being a local team, RidgeValley doesn’t attract top players like the clubs more centrally located (Bellevue, Kent, Seattle, etc…) Coming into this season the team was ranked near the bottom of the pack – by the end of the season they worked there way up closer to the middle.

Practices started in late November and Abigail’s last game was on Saturday, May 6 – the rest of the team played in the final games the following day. They had practices 2-3 times a week during those 5 months – one of those practices was always on Sunday. Even without getting to fully participate in the season Abigail’s contribution to the team was noticeable. It was a great opportunity for her to improve her skills and prepare for the next season at the high school.

Not sure what up with this picture from the beginning of the season – pretty sure Abigail missed the “look up” memo and instead pulled the “make a silly face” pose. I think it’s pretty awesome.

A little better team pictures from the beginning of the season.

In March they played at the Domino’s Pizza tournament and were given shirts for staying positive when their spirited Polish coach was causing some contention throughout the day.