Author: Julie H., Foster Mom
Miss D is officially a high schooler Oh. My. Word. I just don’t think I am ready for this. A girl in high school? Hopefully, I don’t lose too much hair!
Well, our first hurdle (before school even started) was volleyball tryouts. Miss D went to all the summer practices, went to camps, and went four days a week to “Strength and Speed” for two hours during summer in hopes of “catching up” to her peers who have been playing volleyball on select teams since they were little. Miss D just didn’t have the opportunity. She is strong, athletic, and smart, but years of playing volleyball are something she didn’t have the opportunity to do while in the foster care system for the past six years.
Tryouts, I get it. There are only so many spots on a team. I get it, but it sucks. I just get so emotionally upset thinking that Miss D got shafted. She got shafted from having the same privileged upbringing as her peers out here in the suburbs. Kids whose parents spend thousands of dollars a year on dance teams, baseball, basketball, softball, etc. Parents who also have the time and resources to invest in all these sports. Well, she didn’t have that experience. How could she compete with that? Well, she couldn’t. Needless to say, volleyball tryouts did not yield a place on the team for Miss D. Luckily, there’s tennis. A sport here in our district that has a lot of girls joining for the first time in high school. A sport where there aren’t cuts or tryouts. Everyone is welcome. Thank you, tennis coaches! I look forward to a fun fall season spending time watching Miss D learn and grow and become amazing!
