I am a college athlete, who takes fifteen to eighteen hours a semester, participates in greek life, and WILLINGLY works a job. To many people this may sound absolutely insane, however, I love every single moment. The key to this madness is not found in an extra cup of coffee a day (although trust me, I need it....), the key is found deep down inside of my heart. I love my job.

I suppose at this point I should actually explain what my job entails. I coach three club volleyball teams, along side of about twenty five non club athletes. Surprisingly, fate brought me to my job. I did not wake up one day and proclaim that I wanted to coach that many girls, or predict that I was going to devote most of my free time to teaching young girls how to play, it fell into my lap (with a little help from google).

For those unfamiliar to the club volleyball world, volleyball has clubs (like select soccer) that you can choose to play for. Originally, I had a job coaching a fifteen year old team at a different club. However, the team did not form and I was left jobless. I wanted to coach to earn a little extra cash to have fun. Panicked, I emailed every single club in the area where I lived asking if they had any positions available. The next day I woke up to a text message asking if I wanted to grab lunch and learn about a job opportunity. I accepted, little did I know this was going to turn into an amazing decision. I met with the owner of the club and was offered a position... a position to coach three teams along side of him. I hesitantly accepted, nervous and scared to see if I was diving into something much larger than I could handle.

The next week, I showed up to coach my first clinic scared and nervous. I was scared I would not be able to connect with the girls or they would not listen to me. I showed up and walked in and instantly knew that this was where I was supposed to be. The girls amazed me with how they responded to my coaching, how carefully they listened, and how excited they were that I was apart of the team.

To this day, each one of the girls I coach inspires me daily. It can be as simple as a girl telling me a joke or giving me a huge hug, or it can be as deep as a girl telling me they want to grow up and play in college just like me. Even if I walk into the gym in a bad mood, I never leave in one. I truly love the time I get to spend teaching my girls how to grow as both volleyball players and as people. Anyone who knows me knows I refer to my girls as my children and brag about them constantly. I cherish every moment I get with my kids and am constantly proud.

At the end of the day, I just sit back and think about how weird it is that I love my job like I do and how it all happened by accident. This whole experience has taught me so much, one of the main things being that some times in life doors close because the best ones are about to open. I cannot wait to see how I grow and what I learn from my job overtime. I am so blessed!