My Life as a Volleyball Coach's Wife

When I moved here from the Philippines, it was the middle of volleyball season. Oh yeah, it was also springtime (that other season). A lot of my weekends were spent running around watching various volleyball tournaments.

I don't remember a lot of what went on. First, I have a very rudimentary understanding of volleyball. I don't have a clue how teams are ranked and how tournaments affect them, and most of all, it was just generally cold and everyone else fit one of two descriptions: tall and blond; tall and brunette. I couldn't tell the players apart.

One of my earliest recollections of a volleyball girl was one of them saying,"Oh my Gosh, your beach house doesn't have a hot tub?" in total shock. Being from warm, sunny Cebu where temperatures almost never drop below 80F(I think), I thought, "Why would you need a hot tub for your beach house?"

I got my answer the weekend we went to Santa Cruz. The sea was too cold. Doy!

Back to volleyball and my life as a coach's wife. One of the best things about my volleyball coach husband is that once he does something, he does it to the best of his ability. That's also one of the things that I sometimes don't like about him. When he is doing volleyball, it's volleyball and then everything else follows. He would spend entire weekends and weeknights training his players just to make sure he develops them to the fullest.

Naturally, I resented it. I couldn't drive back then, and didn't have a lot of friends here. So I felt left out. A little bit. I was always with my husband, but watching him at the sidelines while he coaches and trains. In one of my talks with my grandma, I mentioned this to her.

She told me that behind the most powerful and successful men are their women(one for each, preferably). And its up to me to support my husband to be the best of what he wants to be. So there. Okay, I guess. He's got total support and cheerleading from this side of the family.

Nowadays, I spend a lot of time watching my husband's team train, play, and hang out. It's not so bad after all, as long as I don't fight it. It also helps that I have learned a lot about volleyball: how it's played, how teams are ranked, which tournaments are strategic, which teams to watch out for. And it helped that I got over my initial shyness of having to talk to Americans. I used to avoid even greeting people because I was too shy. Haha! Not anymore. No one mistakes me for a shy person anymore. :D