Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Volleyball memories with Coach Reeve

Oh so many memories from 2 years of fun and great volleyball at Ricks College playing for JoAnn Reeve!  Where to start… 

 

My name is Kori (Wilson) Livingston and I played for Coach Reeve from 1991-1993.  Some of the first memories I have of Coach is her telling us that the ball is like a light fluffy cloud – I guess that was meant to mean use a soft touch…which, as a setter, did mean something ;)  We go from her softer side to a more intense side as I remember her up on mats hitting balls down at us and yelling our names at the top of her voice with fire in her eyes!  I will always remember when one teammate, Diana, had her turn and Coach yelled, “Di!! (die)” each time she hit the ball at her and we could not stop laughing!  She was even a magician one time when she pulled a fabric softener sheet out of her sleeve and with a surprised look on her face said, “oh look!” (which we turned into “ta da!” when we retold the story).  Coach had a great laugh!  Coach Reeve was also a motivator.  She used Yoda’s “Do or do not. There is no try” to get us working hard and doing our best.  I continue to use that line with my kids!  One night after we won Coach’s 500th win, a bunch of us, with colored water in squirt bottles, went to her home and wrote “500” in the snow for her.  We had a great year that first year and went 54-1 going into the NJCAA tournament held down in Miami.  Asst. coach Larry Stocking had put together a great motivational video for us to watch before Regionals that year and to this day I can’t help but smile and feel the excitement of that year along with the fun memories when I hear MC Hammer’s “Too Legit To Quit” J  From summer volleyball camps and big red van “races” taking campers to and from the high school (which I won, don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise haha!) to hiking the Tetons for team building, to water tower runs with Larry and finding shortcuts through sprinklers, to jump training in the pool in modest Ricks College issued swimwear, to sprints on the football field, to winning, playing hard and having fun… I THANK YOU, Coach JoAnn Reeve, for the memories!  I’m blessed to have played for you and learned from you.  Happy retirement, it is well deserved!

 

Kori (Wilson) Livingston

 

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