Guest Blog: Don't Bring Me Down by Scout

Remember when I told you that Curly broke his hand last week? That was Friday although we didn't know he had actually broken it until Sunday. So on Saturday, Scout had a volleyball tournament. We have had only one opportunity to watch her play since they have only allowed an extremely limited number of parents to attend (like 3 for the whole team). This is Scout's story...

My name is Scout and volleyball is my game. I'm in my third year of club ball with GSL. Today's tournament started like any other game, we lost the first set, but it was close. Our coach was a little upset and pulled us together in a huddle.     

We weren't actually on the floor while the other team was warming up, but we were huddled pretty tight in a circle listening to Liz ramble on. One of my friends made a joke, but it didn't go over very well. At least it made us shut up and listen. “You guys need to hustle more!” Liz fumed. “You guys are ridiculous!” 

That's when the ball came. One of the hitters warming up on the other side of the court smacked me right on the side of the head. The impact rang through my ears. I didn't even see it coming. I doubled over in pain. “Scout!” I heard through a fog. My best friend, Birdie, touched me lightly on the shoulder. Her words rang through my ears. Somewhere I managed to nod affirmatively, “Yeah. Yeah, I'm ok!” It took every ounce of strength I had to pull myself upright, but I'm a fighter and I wanted to play.

Liz put me in the front row.  My head was still ringing. I felt a little dizzy, maybe even a little nauseous. I fought every urge I had to just fall to the floor. I had to keep going. I had to fight. We needed this game. They served the ball. “Short!” I could hear my teammate yell and I saw the ball coming. I just stood there while my teammate made a beautiful pass right to the setter. I got ready to hit outside; I went up and swung my hardest, a beautiful kill. I came back down and almost dropped to the floor, but managed to signal to Liz to pull me out.

Now let me tell you about Liz. She has had multiple concussions, so she knew what she was seeing. She immediately got me ice for my neck, somebody brought me a pair of sunglasses and I made my way to the bench where I sat with my head in my hands. I was almost an hour away from home, but one of the moms called mine and she came to pick me up. I sat there motionless. I vaguely remember people asking questions, making sure I didn't fall asleep. After a while, my parents showed up. A quick trip to the Urgent Care confirmed Liz’s diagnosis of a mild concussion, but I'm not letting that bring me down either.

***NOTE FROM MOM*** We actually have video ofthis hit. It wasn't pretty and I didn't think it was appropriate to share, so I'm giving you some cute pics of Scout and her team. She is #14 in black and the cute girl in the Friends cap.