The “last” anything is emotional, especially as a senior. On Thursday, October 13th, the WBHS Volleyball team parted with six of their amazing seniors. They took on the court and played for the last time together: as a group, a team, and most importantly as a family. 

“What being a teammate means to me is that I’m able to play with others and respect them while doing so and playing for something bigger than yourself,’’ said senior Morgan Bellamy. 

Being a part of a sports team means so much more than just being called a ‘‘teammate.’’ It means you’re a part of a family that you grow such a strong bond with throughout the season. Memories are one of the most important parts of school and sports; it’s the one thing you’ll always hold onto. A few of the memories that the seniors shared with me were their ECU trip, the bus rides to and from games, and the bowling trip before their senior night game. You surround yourself with this family every day and make some of the best memories in your middle school/high school years. Bellamy thinks that when you build this bond with your team and coaches, it helps with how you carry each other not only on the court and through games but out of school too. 

‘’The mistakes you make shouldn’t give you a reason to get down on yourself or let other people get you down,’’ said senior Hailey Roberts. 

Just because we made the team for a sport doesn’t mean that we’re perfect. Playing sports means that it is inevitable that we will make mistakes, whether you’re a D1 athlete or a rookie. In fact, according to Wayne Gretzky, legendary ice hockey icon, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Forming bad habits is very easy, and it can take time to perfect our playing abilities. Also, when we make mistakes, we should take a deep breath and remember that no one is perfect and everyone else makes mistakes too. Sometimes, mistakes can be beneficial, because they allow us to avoid repeating the same mistakes over and over. 

“One of the most important things I’ve realized is that you can’t play individually,” said senior Jalynn Sneed. “You have to learn to play as a team and not think it’s only you on the court in a team sport.”

Playing as a team is one of the hardest things in many sports. Athletes have to comprehend how the rest of the team reacts to multiple, diverse situations, so they all know how to best benefit the team. Sometimes in a team sport, tentative mistakes tend to get in our heads and that changes not only our personal attitudes but everyone else around us. Everyone takes that first step out on the court as one; after the game is done, we leave as one, no matter the outcome of the game.  Sneed believes that once that one team member gets discouraged, it detrimentally impacts the entire team. While a player is in a spunk, she will likely keep shanking balls until she takes that deep breath, resets, and tells herself that she’s got this next pass. It’s hard to kill a spunk, but it has to die!

‘’Enjoy the moment, because after your last game, (for most of us) that’s the end of it,’’ said senior Makaylee Sanders.