Queens of Crunk

Last night I coached my first volleyball practice with my friend Leslie. We're coaching for a subsidized private school... interesting, huh? I met at her place uptown and we followed her friend Rob to the school. The catholic school is located in west Dallas in one of the worst parts of town. On the way there we saw a guy getting arrested. "Good deal... good deal," I was thinking.

The school has a 10 foot tall fence running all the way around it with razor wire at the top. We pulled in, parked the cars and walked into the gym. It's new, thanks to a private donation by someone (can't remember who Rob said). It's a co-ed team but only one of the guys showed up last night. Middle school aged. 12 kids showed. Leslie and I split the kids up (being that we only had two balls) and started off by practicing bumping to one another. My group of six got in a circle. I of course, attracted all the girls that we more or less considered the "bad girls." Hand fulls to say the least. Let me just tell you that I loved every minute of it and I think they were surprised.

To motivate them to have control over the direction of the ball (which Anna didn't seem to care about in the beginning... she was more concerned with doing the opposite of what I told her to and gauging my reaction) I made a game out of it. Smile on my face the whole time. Oh the joy.

"O.k. here's what we're going to do. You can bump or spike the ball. You have to call it before you hit it. If you call it and miss that's fine, but if you don't call it and hit it you have to drop and do three push-ups. *insert grin* If no one calls the ball and no one goes for it we ALL have to do three push-ups. Everyone understand the rules?" They all nodded in agreement and laughed.

It was on. Everyone was calling the balls and running to get them. It was awesome. All of the sudden these girls who had no motivation, had motivation. When I didn't call it, I dropped for three. I think they were surprised that I applied the rules to myself. We had so much fun. We all encouraged one another and had a blast. After we did that awhile we practiced our serves, which they all did great on. I was impressed. We took a break between bumping practice and serving and I asked the girls to circle up, since we'd worked pretty hard and they needed a short break and we had no water (will explain in a minute). "So, I want each of you to tell me the best thing that happened to you today." They all kind of looked at each other... and then went around the circle. It rocked. Maria had enchiladas made by her mom and grandmother... homemade! I told her I was jealous! Monica Marie said that she got to talk to her little sister who lives in Garland... they all had great things to say. And I shared mine with them as well.

The gym, I found out, has no water fountain. So, I guess I'll be investing in an Igloo and be bringing water to practice every week from now on because most of these poor girls don't have parents sensible enough to send any water with them. While a few of the girls ran to the restroom Princess said that the day before, right across the street from the school a man had set his girlfriend on fire. She took off her shirt and started to run off. A man came to help her out and was stabbed repeatedly by the boyfriend. "You know, it's sad because it's not the old people, it's the young people who are being bad. But that's just the way it is in West Dallas," Princess said casually.

Leslie and I talked to Rob after practice and he filled us in on some of the girls history. Monica Marie's (she was in my group) whole family has abandoned her. Her mother is a drug addict and no one knows where she is. Her father is in the area and drops by when it is convenient for him to say hello. She lives with a distant relative... but they're not that close. I noticed that when we were practicing she seemed to distance herself from me. She wanted to laugh... but she didn't. That would involve emotional attachment. However, some of the parents of the kids are doctors and work at the clinics downtown and really want their kids to go to a catholic school. It's an interesting mix of kids. But I love them all. Rob made sure to tell Leslie and I never to walk to our cars by ourselves. And NEVER to speak to anyone. He assured us we were safe, but to be careful.

I stood their in that group of girls last night and my heart was full. I love working with kids like that. When I say "like that" I mean the ones who are grateful to have a hug from anyone they can get it from... the ones that everyday is struggle just to drag themselves out of bed because they're not sure if it's worth living or not because not one person in their life has told them they're worth it. The kids who need Christ in their life so bad. It makes my heart ache and swell simultaneously.

We have two games tomorrow. I'm so stoked!

Oh, the title of this post comes from Anna. She is probably the toughest of the group and Rob told me she probably won't get to play after the first game due to eligibility. Hopefully, though, she'll see it's worth it and decided to keep her grades up so she'll be able to stick it out. Anyway, she wants to name the team "Queens of Crunk." But I found out that since it's a school team we have to stick with the mascot, the Eagles. I'll have to tell her it can be our nickname. :)