CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIN
-By Dave Cross
A young lady decided one summer a few years ago she wanted to climb the local
mountain just outside of town. She was not experienced at mountain
climbing at all, but figured, "How hard could it be? I've read a book
on this and it doesn't seem that tough."
One fine morning, she began her trek up the only trail she could find
along the base of the mountain. As the sun rose in the sky and the
dew started to dry from the plants along the trail, she noticed the trail
was getting much more narrow and rocky. She had worn her normal walking
tennis shoes, and it was getting harder to keep from
slipping with each step.
An hour or so into her climb, she noticed she was running out of water,
as she had only brought one bottle with her.
She felt the fatigue start to grow in her legs, she really hadn't been exercising much lately,
As she kept along the increasingly steep trail, she started to tire. She wondered if she'd have enough
energy to keep going much longer. She had already eaten the one granola bar
she had brought along.
When she reached what she thought was the half-way point to the top,
she realized she couldn't go any further. This
was much tougher than she thought, and she had not brought enough
food or water, or wore the correct foot wear. Besides that, she realized
she wasn't nearly in good enough shape for this task.
Disappointed, she turned around and headed back down the mountain,
vowing to herself, "Next year I'll be much more
ready to climb this mountain to the top, and I will!"
A year passed, and the young lady had grown a little stronger and
wiser. Two weeks before she wanted to attempt to climb the mountain,
she started to prepare:
-She talked to an old man in town, a local expert on the mountain,
and he had given her some tips. But to be truthful,
she thought he was a little "over the top" with his advice and figured she
could make the climb without doing everything he suggested. So, she
took his suggestions and "adjusted them" to what she really thought she'd
have to do to get to the top:
-He had told her to build up her endurance by walking the trails in
the woods around the mountain for about three miles each day, so she started walking a mile around her neighborhood each
day.
-He had told her to buy herself a pair of hiking boots, so she bought herself a better, sturdier pair of tennis
shoes.
-He had told her to take at least five bottles of water and a light
lunch with her, so she gathered up three bottles of
water and five granola bars.
-He told her to find a friend who wanted to climb the mountain with
her to go along, but she couldn't really think of anyone
to ask, so she didn't.
-He also had told her to find a walking stick and take a first aide
kit, but she really didn't think that was necessary
so she blew those suggestions off.
Finally the morning came to climb the mountain and the confident young
lady started up the trail.
"I'm ready this time, I've prepared myself and I'm gonna do
it!", she said to herself.
A little over an hour into her climb, she reached the point where
she had turned back last year. She was getting a little tired, but
still felt strong enough to keep going. "I'm half way there, and
I've still have two bottles of water and three of my granola bars left, I
can do this!", she thought to herself.
She continued on, fighting to ignore the burning in her legs that
seemed to grow by the minute. She still had one bottle of water left
now, and the top couldn't be that far away!
Then it happened, she came around a bend in the trail and into a clearing
in the woods. Right then she slipped on a rock and fell, cutting her
knee open. She paused for a break to catch her breath while she checked
out the cut on her knee, and then looked up. Her heart sank when she
finally caught a glimpse of the peak of the mountain-she wasn't even half
way to the top yet!
To make matters worse, the trail ahead looked increasingly steep and
rocky-no way she was going to make it in those shoes!
Heart broken, she realized she still had not
done enough to prepare herself for this task. Her head hung
low and her shoulders slumped as she dejectedly turned and started back down
the trail to the bottom.
Along the walk back to the bottom, thoughts kept racing into her head,
"Why didn't I listen to EVERYTHING the old
man said to me? That wasn't very smart, he gave me the tools I needed, and
I didn't use all of them!"
The winter was especially long and harsh that year, and she had plenty
of time to think as she sat by her bedroom window, gazing up at that mountain
she now so desperately wanted to conquer.
'This year, I'm going to do it all. I'm going to do everything
he told me, and more, and I'm going to get to the top!"
Spring came and she sought out the old expert again. She told
him of her failed attempt the previous summer, and asked him to help her
again with her quest to reach the top of the mountain.
Finally, the old expert looked her in the eyes, and said, "I can give you all the tools you need to reach your
goal, but it's not gonna happen unless you follow everything I say completely,
and give it all you've got. There are no short cuts to success, young lady."
And follow his advice she did, two months before she would make her
next attempt:
-She found a friend who wanted to climb the
mountain, too. And found out if she would have asked her, she'd
have done it with her last year!
-They walked three miles a day on the trails,
and sometimes five.
-They both bought a nice pair of hiking boots,
some wool socks and a little first aide kit-just in case..
-They gathered up not five, but six bottles
of water each, and made themselves an energy rich lunch of trail mix, a peanut
butter sandwich and two bananas.
When the day came to climb the mountain, they
were ready.
When they reached the point where the young lady had slipped on the
rocks, her friend reminded her to be careful and watch her step.
As they passed this point, they still felt strong and fresh.
They stopped about an hour later and ate the second third of their
lunch.
They encouraged each other to keep going as
it got tougher.
The last little stretch to the top was even
harder than they had imagined, but they helped each other over the tough
spots, at times grabbing each other by the arms to pull themselves up the
next step together.
At last, they reached the top. They were exhausted, but it didn't matter. The joy inside the young lady and her friend that they had
reached their goal was so strong all they could do was smile from ear to
ear.
They sat a top the mountain for the longest time, looking out over
the beautiful valley below.
Tears started to stream down the face of the young lady, who had finally reached her goal on her third try.
Her friend, not really understanding, asked, "What's wrong?"
"I never knew how good this would feel,
there's nothing like this", she replied, wiping the tears away.
"All the time we spent, all the work, the things
we had to buy, it was all so worth it now!"
"I'll never forget this feeling, it's the best feeling in the world!"
And neither will your players, or you, coach...
Each team has a mountain looming in front of
them right now, and the day the climb starts will be upon them much quicker
than they realize. At the top of the mountain lies a state championship,
a conference championship, or possibly the first winning season in recent
memory.
It's time now to start training for the
day the climb will begin.
It's time now to start working
toward achieving the best feeling in the world.
It's time....
....NOW.
-Dave Cross
National Director
Yes I Can Volleyball
www.yesicanvolleyball.com
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