Today, I’ve got my ring. My Lone Star Conference and NCAA Regional Champion ring; and for the first time, since I finished my college volleyball career, I had a feeling of deep emptiness.
Technically, it might not be an engagement ring, but in many ways it is. It symbolizes all the things I’ve given up for this sport and all the hard lessons I’ve learnt on the court; how to win, how to lose and how always the team comes first.
Volleyball has given me life and shaped my personality. When I held the ring, my soul smiled. Most of the happiest memories of my life have happened around volleyball. Surprisingly, they aren’t memories of matches or championships that I won. Instead, I remember my parents seating on the stands watching every single one of my games, all the friends I made along the way, the wonderful places I’ve got to visit, and above all, the feeling of joy every time I touch a volleyball.
It looks like a ring but it represents years of work, faith, discipline, commitment, and above all, unconditional love. I never thought about how my life will be without volleyball but I am sure I would be a completely different person today.
This week is been especially hard. It’s almost the end of the semester and I haven’t been home in a very long time. I miss Europe more than I can express. Also, it’s been four months that I don’t get to play volleyball anymore. Fortunately, life keeps me busy and I barely have time to realize it. However, sometimes it hits me all at once and it hurts.
Tuesday, I went to cover the Tarleton softball team match. Seeing many of their family members supporting and cheering for them made me feel so emotional. My parents are my number-one-fans. Before I moved to the United States, they were always coming to watch me play and after, we used to have lunch together and talked about the games for hours—It was my favorite time of the week.
If something I’ve experienced in the past four years is that everything is scary at the beginning and it’s also sad at the end. I remember like it was yesterday when I first started college in the US and now, in the blink of an eye, I am about to finish it. Graduation represents the end of many things and the beginning of many others. A beautiful chapter ends. I use to tell my friends that to me one year in America equals five in Spain—and I mean it. Life is about finding what that keeps you going and what gets you through hard times. Yet, you will only find these things out of your comfort zone, where nothing is ever again taken for granted.
“And in the end, it’s not the years in life that count. It’s the life in your years.”
by Blanca Izquierdo