Plus One

Gabe played in the rec center volleyball league again this fall.  His age group placed him in the middle league, but he wanted to play in the upper division so that he would be able to learn more and challenge himself.  As a result, he was place on a team comprised of all girls, most of the in the 8th grade.  To top it off, they selected the name "Spiker Chicks" with an addendum of "plus one".  Gabe was not particularly pleased with this situation, but he made the best of it.  Eventually he somewhat embraced his "plus one" status, especially after his coach required that he give high fives to the girls after every play.
In addition to the unique makeup of the team, he had an unusual coaching staff.  Jayd was assigned to coach his team.  I was a little worried that they wouldn't be able to separate being brothers from being co-players.  That is a difficult skill when one of the participants is an adult.  But they did very well.  I was there as assistant coach to step in when necessary, but other than a few verbal reminders (this is your coach, not your brother right now.....this is your player, not your brother right now, etc), they did fairly well.  Jayd had a lot that he could teach Gabe, and Gabe recognized that Jayd knew what he was doing and tried to learn from him.  Jayd seemed to take a particular interest in helping Gabe to improve.  It turned out to be a memorable experience for both of them.
Gabe played hard throughout the season.  Despite his youth, he was one of the better players on the team.  His passing was reliable, he hustled on the court, put down a few spikes for kills, and he managed to serve a few jump serves.