Looking around, I see my older brother shaking his head as I pick up my glasses from the ground. As my team switches to a different court, I fall behind, embarrassed after what happened to me. I try my best not to think about how the volleyball impacted my face as I tried to receive it. My team losing makes the current situation feel like a gut stab. A face full of leather must’ve toggled a switch that now helps me see that overconfidence can really mess someone up.

P.E volleyball tournament. My team, 2 points away from gaining a win. The enemy team falling behind, needing to gain 3 points to win. I'm in the back, while my brother and his friend, both being members of the real volleyball team, stay in the front. I focus on the ball and manage to hit a couple up. Know that I wasn't really experienced in volleyball myself, so being able to hit the ball up while in the back row really gave me a sense of ability. I started going for the ball more, but I was blinded by the thought that I had the ability to hit it up. 

Everytime the ball would have been considered “out” I still went for it, and everytime, the enemy team gained a point. Before I knew it, we were tied. 15 to 15. There we were, ready to win, and ready to lose. The enemy team serves the ball. One of my teammates hits the ball up and the other hits it over, but the enemy team sends it back to us. We go back and forth, struggling to gain the last point, until one of my teammates bumps the ball up again.

“Cover! Cover!” The words from my teammate make me jump into action. 

Me, directly under the ball, ready to hit it over the net, thinking we’ll win this round gets met with the taste of leather. Bam! The Volleyball hits my face instead of my forearms. The impact knocks off my glasses as I stumble and lose my footing.

I wonder to myself, “what happened?” We lost, is what happened. The P.E teacher blows the whistle indicating that the round has ended, and for us to move onto the next court for the next game. Although the games were only for fun, I couldn’t dare look at my teammates, and especially my older brother who saw the impact first hand. I allowed the warm and deceiving hands of overconfidence to blind me, and I’ll be sure to never let that happen ever again, as it’ll be more than just fun and games.