sprained ankles suck!...BUT i made doc laugh!

TWO sprained ankles in half a year. Ridiculous! Anyway, last thursday, I was at volleyball practice and we were practicing our triple blocking. I was blocking on the right side, so i had to go all the way to the left to block the left side. Ok, so our team isn't really that good at blocking so everyone was kinda drifting and it was pretty much all over the place. BUT i was the only one unlucky enough to land on someone else's foot, rolling my left ankle on the way down. My left ankle swelled up to the size of tennis ball, which was exactly what happened to my right foot just a couple months ago, so I guess one good thing is that both my ankles are now even in that both are messed up. But anyway, what I wanted to get to was that I finally made doc laugh! (even though I totally did not think it was funny). I dont think many people can say that they made doc laugh so I'm quite proud. This happened on Friday as I had to print out my paper and I now walk really slow so I was still getting my stuff together when period three already started. I was putting all my stuff into my bag in front of doc's period three class and all of a sudden, he just starts cracking up and i realized that he was laughing at me. I don't know what it was but I guess me being a cripple was pretty entertaining to him. Hahah so yeah thats my whole story about me making doc laugh.

Anyway, while I was all frustrated lying down, icing my tennis ball-sized ankle, I was watching my teammates scrimmage another team on Thursday, and I suddenly noticed how much physics occurs in volleyball. When the volleyball is put into play, gravity constantly affects the motion of the ball. Even when a player serves the ball, and goes into the air, gravity acts upon it at a constant acceleration. Air resistance is also in effect although there is an incredibly tiny amount because we were indoors. However, in beach volleyball, the wind and air resistance is a big factor as the path of the ball becomes increasingly hard to predict. Also, when a player sets the volleyball, it is a form of projectile motion as the player's hands apply a force to the ball and makes it travel to its destination. Forces are in effect the whole time as the players apply force to the volleyball when they spike it. Even in between points, when the players are just standing on the court, gravity is pushing down on them and a normal force going directly upwards is present. The grip between the volleyball players' shoes and the ground also causes friction so that they don't slip on the wooden gym floor. Finally, when a player goes up to spike the volleyball, they take a running start or an approach. This is a period of kinetic energy, but when the player jumps to hit the ball, this is transferred into potential energy as he or she goes up into the air. The higher a player jumps, the more potential energy the player has. So from spraining my ankle, I realized how much physics is involved with the sport of volleyball.