Sunday, August 31, 2014

Playing in the Mud

The beginning of the school year at Ohio Northern University is always filled with exciting traditions. One of these traditions includes Founder’s Mud Volleyball. I played last year and my team made it all the way to third place. You get muddy, play a little bit of volleyball and enjoy the time reuniting with your friends after summer break.

ONU is an amazing, yet stressful place to be. Classes are already challenging after only one week and the amount of homework assigned to students is unreal. I love having the opportunity to have some fun and not worry about my schoolwork for a few hours. Mud volleyball gives us this opportunity to be silly and have fun for an afternoon.

This year, my mud volleyball team was determined to win. Our team of four girls and four guys stepped into the mud pit to play and came out covered in mud. Since I was in the back row, I got away with only muddy socks and a few splashes on my shirt. Unfortunately, my teammates didn’t think I was dirty enough after our game. They chased after me, picked me up and threw me back into the pit.

We were slightly too confident because my team didn’t even make it past the first round. Even though we didn’t win, I had an amazing time with my friends. I loved seeing their competitive sides. This event left me with some great memories. The determination my team had to get everyone as muddy as possible was even greater than their determination to beat the opposing team.

It’s impossible to feel clean after being thrown in a pit of mud, but three showers and two loads of laundry seemed to help. We didn’t win this year, but this won’t stop me from trying again next year! Besides, why would I ever want to miss out on playing in the mud?