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I wish I was a little bit taller,
I wish I was a baller,
I wish my kid could make the team and it’s all her.
– Skee Lo (probably)
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If you wish, you can grab the N.W.A. Newsletter Playlist on Spotify here, all of the songs that have been featured in the newsletter are on the playlist.
Happy Friday, Coach J here from Anyman Fitness – and welcome to the latest edition of The N.W.A. Newsletter.
Each week with the N.W.A. Newsletter, I give you the best Nutrition, Weightlifting, and/or Attitude advice for you to start to use in your life today.
Tens of thousands of people have used this exact newsletter to gain muscle, lose fat, and become a better version of themselves…
Without any further ado, let’s get started..
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N.W.A. Life Lesson Of The Week
Last year, my daughter got cut from her 7th grade volleyball team.
She made the first round of cuts and thought she had a good chance. But on the last day, the coach called the names of the girls who had made the team, and her name didn’t get called.
She put her head down, and snatched up her things. She walked to the car where her mom and I were waiting. She opened the door, sat down, and didn’t say a word – she just put her face in her hands and started bawling.
It was so hard to watch. She wanted to be on that team more than anything. I thought she was good enough to make it, but the coach didn’t, and that’s the only thing that mattered.
My heart went out to her. I know exactly what that feels like. I’ve been cut before. Her mom had been cut from sports teams before as well. It’s a gut punch and a shot to the ego for someone to tell you “you’re not good enough to play on this team”.
We told her to go ask the coach what she could improve on for next year. He gave us some good feedback. He also told her she was the “first girl cut”. They actually had a debate on “should we take Brooklyn, or this other girl?”.
They chose the other girl.
While that sounded promising, it only made the sting worse for Brooklyn. She said to me, “If only I had made a few more serves, I would have made the team…”
We told her she had a few choices. She could let this be the end. Everyone’s sports career ends at some point. If she wanted to be done with volleyball and try another sport or activity, we would support her.
Or she could use this experience as fuel and motivation to get better. The choice was up to her.
She chose the latter.
For a solid year, she practiced 4-5 times per week, minimum. Her mom and myself searched the internet for volleyball opportunities within an hour of our home. Every time we found something new and asked Brooklyn if she wanted to attend, she said “YES”.
Every time.
She went to camps and clinics and mini-clubs and small group instruction, and 1:1 instruction.
She found a travel team to play on. At the start of the season, she barely played. But as the weeks went on, she got better and better, and by the end of the season, she was one of the top girls on the squad.
Her serves slowly got better. At her tryout, she was lucky to get 3 out of every 10 serves over the net. 6 months later, she was able to hit nearly every serve over the net. A few months after that, through lots of practice, she had developed a “jump serve”.
A jump serve is an advanced volleyball skill; there are high school varsity players who don’t have a jump serve, and Brooklyn had a pretty darn good one at the age of 13.
Her 8th grade tryout was a few weeks ago.
In the first tryout, they started off by having all the girls serve, Brooklyn’s old achilles heel.
She unleashed her new jump serve, promptly hitting 20 straight hard serves just over the net and inbounds. The coaches were stunned.
Within 5 minutes, each coach walked up to her with their clipboards and said, “What’s your name?”
By the second day, they were using Brooklyn as a demonstrator, saying, “Hey Brooklyn, can you show everyone how to do this drill?”
When they needed a team of 6 to showcase how to do something, they were calling Brooklyn’s name first, along with 5 other returning starters.
When Brooklyn got home from tryouts on the 2nd day, I asked her straight up, “Hey, you’ve been around a lot of volleyball in the last year. How are you doing? Are you one of the better girls out there?”
She looked at me with almost a surprised, wide eyed stare and said, “Dad, this is gonna sound crazy… but I’m pretty sure I’m the best player on the court…”
Brooklyn made her 8th grade volleyball team.
I told her how proud I was of her. But not because she became a great player or because she made the team. Because she didn’t give up. She didn’t let failure define her. She didn’t cry about it (after that first day). She didn’t beg mom and dad to go talk to her coach.
She got after it. She worked harder than I’ve ever seen someone work, for a full year, with singular, unrelenting focus. While her other volleyball friends were hanging out and relaxing all summer, she had her eyes on the prize and was putting in work to improve.
There’s a real lesson in there.
Sometimes, as a parent, you just hope your kid is learning how to do things the right way.
This was a time when my kid taught ME how to do things the right way.
I couldn’t be more proud.
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I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Anyman Fitness N.W.A. Newsletter.
I’ll be back next week.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Best,
Coach J
Anyman Fitness
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