I am part of a team. A team I have stuck with for the past three years of my high school career. We’ve seen people come and go that didn’t really mold with us, but that’s never changed our relationships with each other or our love for the game. I’ve had friends, boyfriends, and even family members come and go in and back out of my life again, but not once have my teammates left my side. They have changed my life in so many ways. Team mates were put in this world to not only be someone you play a sport with, but someone you can always count on. They are meant to be your sisters and your best friends. No matter what I go through, there is a girl on my volleyball team I can go to. T’Ouja. T’Ouja and I have become so close just this year. And we have helped each other with so many things already. She comes to me for reassurance as I do with her. She’s always the one to tell me how important I am, no matter what others say. Cheyenne. Cheyenne is always the one that is there for me through family issues. She has been through the same things as me, if not worse. She always manages to show me how important my life is and how things will always look up sooner or later. Taylor. Taylor is the most down to earth, Christian person. She has strengthened my love for Christ and has taught me so many things. Shelbi. Shelbi has stuck by my side for as long as I can remember. No matter what it is, Shelbi is there. Generally it’s with boys. She has shown me how strong I can be. How good I can do, and most importantly, she’s taught me that if I don’t stand for something, I’ll end up falling for anything. Dalye. Dalye is my best friend. She’s been with me through it all. She’s been told it all. Whether it’s about boys, family, or even just little high school girl secrets. She’s there to talk when I need to, and she’s there when I don’t even want to talk about it. I couldn’t ask for a more amazing person in my life.

A true teammate is more than just someone to high five on the court every Tuesday. It isn’t just someone you spend every day with during season and then drift apart from until next season. A teammate is someone you trust on and off of the court. It’s someone that is a true person to you. Someone you trust. Being friends outside of the gym and the locker room has helped me and my team become closer when it’s time to join together to become a team. The trust I have accumulated from Dalye over the years helps me trust her to get the ball to me in the target spot. I’ve earned my trust from Shelbi, Taylor, and T’Ouja as a true teammate, and that has put a huge impact on their trusting me to set the ball tight to the net in the right spot to they can get a kill. My teammates and I have molded together. We win together, we lose together. We have our ups and our downs, but in our hearts, we all know the relationship we have is irreplaceable. I know one day I’m going to look back on my team and everything we’ve accomplished over these years, and I’ll know that they helped me find strengths I never knew I had, I earned friends who have always stood by me, and that we all learned many valuable lessons together. A teammate is more than someone that you just see on the floor, it’s a friend, they’re your family, and it will forever be this way.