For our homeschool PE, I like to introduce my children to each of the different sports for a few days so that they are not ignorant when the church sets up a volleyball game or whatever. I want them to know what the rules are, and some basic skills so that they have the ability to play, or to enjoy watching. I do not want my children to have to join every team out there for season after season. No, I think a week or two to learn the basics with me is decent enough.
I use the Cub Scouts Academics and Sports program, which you can pick up for $5 at any Boy Scout store. In the sports section of that program, you can earn a pin for each sport that you complete. If you are not in Cub Scouts, you can buy the pin yourself and give it to your kid. Each sport lists different skills that need to be mastered, so I drill those skills.
For volleyball, 90 minutes of practicing skills was required, so we practiced serving, setting, and bumping the ball. Each time the children served or bumped the ball, they screamed in pain. My son Bryan nicknamed the game “torture ball.” He said he was bruised after that first day of half an hour. I told him I was bruised, too. On the way home, I turned the opposite way and decided to get a softer ball at a sporting goods store. After all, I had bought this old volleyball for 99 cents at Goodwill two years ago, so who knows its condition?
Arriving at the
sporting goods store, I asked if there was a children’s volleyball or a softer volleyball. One of the men who worked there spoke authoritatively. He stated that the main reason a volleyball would hurt is because there is too much air in the ball. I should let some air out of my ball. Secondly, he had a ball that was softer, but it was expensive at $35. Also, he had me feel the ball. He said, “See, this one has too much air. This one over here is better.” I felt each one and figured out how it should be. I thanked him and left.
The next day I let air out of the ball. (My husband took something off the air pump and pressed it into the hole.) When we arrived at the park with the volleyball net, we fared no better. It was slightly less pain for me to serve it, but it certainly didn’t make much difference. My husband told me volleyball always hurts. I told him that a couple of times that I played it, it didn’t hurt. There must be a way to hit it to minimize pain. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. Meanwhile, all I hear from my boys is “Ow,” “ow,” “ouch,” “ow.”
