It’s autumn and this is second time I have ever really thought much about team sports.  In middle school and high school I enjoyed competing on the swim team.  Since becoming a mother, I have learned to love soccer (which I wanted to play as a kid) and now volleyball (which I also wanted to play but, by middle school, was too afraid of missing and looking “uncool.”)  This is the first year my girl could play volleyball for her school (she had been playing soccer for the YMCA in the spring) and she had no idea at first what she was doing for either sport.  In soccer she was not sure whose goal was whom’s and in volleyball she could not return the ball when she first started.  I found myself shrieking for my child’s teams, even as I only half knew what they were doing.  In volleyball I discovered I enjoyed visiting the other schools’ campuses as I developed my appreciation of the sport, just as I did with the different soccer fields when she was playing for the Y.  Her teams made it to the playoffs for the championships in both sports!  Far more moving was that her teams supported her even when she was goalie in soccer and let a goal pass (to forfeit the championship) as well as when she failed to make her serves in volleyball.  As a kid I had always been SO afraid about what others would think.  I know I never even scratched the surface of living up to my sports potential.  I love learning lessons from my little one.  Albert Einstein once said, “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”  The older I become, the more important I realize this is.  No matter who you are, where you’re from, what challenges you may have, or how old you are:  if there is something you want to do, be thankful you can and take a shot.