Rudy gets a chance

Hello everyone,
Well if you have been following the story you know it's been a trying year for Stephanie and us as parents. We thought Steph was going to have a great last year playing volleyball. But as it turns out the coach has not played her much at all. We and the rest of the world have not figured this one out yet. We've had parents coming to us expressing there disbelief, we've even had other players tell us and her they don't understand why. I have talked to the coach on two occasions and she assured me it wasn't personal, basically she didn't feel Steph was doing her best in practice and she needed to work on some things. We are not allowed to go to practices so I don't have any argument. Pretty helpless feelings. We encouraged Steph to work hard but we really knew she was. Steph almost quit two weeks ago. The way she was being treated I was willing to let her. She didn't quit and I am thankful now that she didn't.
Last night was there last home conference game. The coach decided to start all the seniors. That meant Steph got to play back middle (her specialty) and the junior that has been playing the spot had to sit.
We were shocked when she walked out on the court with the starters. Were pretty nervous for her too. We knew if she screwed up once she would be yanked and that would be the end. Well the first ball served to her she called it and bump set it to the setter and it was perfect. We all cheered (I mean we all). She went on to have a great first round until she got rotated out with the front row player. We wondered if that was it and the junior would come in for the rest of the night.
It came time for the front row player to rotate out and Steph got up and rotated back in! Well she ended up playing the whole night. This ended up being a five game match against their biggest rival. The former coach from Allendale now coaches this team. So they were all out to beat them. They lost to this team earlier in the year.
Stephanie was having a great time! Her focus was there and her skills were there. She definately showed the coach, players and the fans that she has been overlooked. They ended up winning the match and Stephanie was a big contributer.
What was really cool was to see all the players and parents coming down and giving her hugs and telling her how awsome she had done. I gave her a big hug and told her how proud of her I was. I was proud of the way she played but I think I'm more proud of the way she has handled all the adversity. She is friends with everyone on the team and still loves her coach.(not as much as a coach but as a person) but do you blame her? I have to say she has showed more of Jesus love than Deb or I have.
It was parents night last night and all the parents have t-shirts. Mine and Debs have "Steph's dad(mom)" on the back. Deb and I in protest last night almost took tape and crossed out Steph and wrote RUDY'S Dad on the back! Maybe it's good we didn't.
Well there are a few more tournaments and games to go. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. But for one breif time in Stephanies life she was the star, and she'll remember this for the rest of her life. I'm glad I was there to see it!