So, CoCo is on this "traveling" volleyball team. It's so far from our house that we "travel" every time we go to practice...then on the weekends we get up in the wee hours to "travel" to where-ever-the-heck the tournament is on that particular weekend.
In that last paragraph it would be safe to substitute the word "pilgrimage" in every spot I wrote travel.....because the word travel is such an understatement.
Anyway, I attended the practice tonight. There are two every week and my neighbor Joss, who's daughter is also on the team, and I take turns making the pilgrimage to the far, far, sports center.
Tonight they worked on serving. A. Topic. About. Which. I. Am. Passionate. Only because it's the whole key to the game at this age. That's all.
Anyway, they worked. and worked. And everyone on the team eventually was consistently getting their serves over. Except a little girl I'll call Maddy. Maddy's toss was off....which makes it impossible to strike the ball with the deadly force necessary to get it over the net and harm someone on the other side (which is, of course, the goal in secular volleyball).
The coaches (there are two) didn't seem to notice that Maddy was struggling. The coaches are 18-year-olds who've played in this "system" since they were CoCo's age (11).
I waited.
I stared.
I bit my tongue.
They still didn't notice.
Eventually they played a game where everyone had to get three serves over the net or they had to run.
Maddy had to run three laps every turn.
Finally, when one of the coaches sat down next to me on a break I said, " Maddy's toss is off..."
She said, "Yeah, we're working on it."
Uh huh.
I said, "can I serve a few?"
She kind of smirked at me and said, "sure" and under her breath, I thought I heard "grandma."
I ran over to Maddy. I showed her my toss. I flattened her hand and made her smack mine really hard so she knew how hard to hit the ball. I told her to stop taking a step until she could get it over. And then I fed her balls until she started smacking it over the net.
When the water break was over the coaches were slightly irritated. CoCo was absolutely mortified. And Maddy was serving over the net consistently.
I know I shouldn't have butted in.
I should have just read my book until practice was over.
I just can't help myself.
Sue me.