@MizzouVB China Trip Flashback: Emily Thater
7/26/2016 9:06:00 AM | Volleyball
Thater recalls meeting youth volleyball players
COLUMBIA, Mo. – In late May, Mizzou Volleyball made its long trek to Beijing, China, for an unforgettable 13-day trip. While overseas, the Tigers competed against top Chinese competition during the week and visited historic landmarks on the weekends.
Throughout the offseason, MUTigers.com will meet with each of the Tiger players who made the memorable trip. Each individual will focus on one part of the team's trip and recall what that moment meant to them.
Next, is senior Emily Thater and her recollection of meeting youth volleyball players in Beijing. The following description was written by Thater.
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While China was filled with incredible people and places, one of my favorite experiences was the opportunity we had to meet some young volleyball players from Beijing. The young boys and girls were anywhere from about 6-11 years old and they are already learning and playing volleyball with Chinese coaches. Their English was almost flawless and they weren't bad pepper partners either.
Mizzou Volleyball players stood in a line with one child across from each of us so we could exchange names and gifts with each of the children. We gave them small pins with the Mizzou Tiger logo on it and they gave us each our own personalized stuffed panda. Needless to say, the Missouri Volleyball players were psyched!
I had the opportunity to meet one young girl named Kelly. She was nine years old, tall and gangly just like I was at that age and absolutely couldn't wait to touch a volleyball. We did some ball handling along with the rest of the team and then I got to take a few pictures with her and another friend.
My takeaway from meeting Kelly was how worldwide sports are. We may come from different backgrounds and have different experiences, but it is the simplicity of truly loving sports that seems to be a universal language. I see all too often players who become burned-out or bored of playing sports after they've been doing it so long.
There's a quote from Mia Hamm that came to mind when I met Kelly from one of the greats in female sports, "Somewhere behind the athlete you've become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back... play for her."
So thank you Kelly for reminding me how important it is to play for the love of it and not to forget why I fell in love in the first place.
Thanks for reading! M-I-Z!
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