Earings for Girls

Teenage Girls and their Self Esteem

Creating a positive sense of self is as important to the teenage daughter as her reading the “Do not feed the lions” sign at the zoo. Disregarding either can result in losing very necessary parts of herself.

“The Secrets to Having the Teenage Daughter you Actually Like” with Dr. Cheryl Guy

How a girl evolves into her adolescent and teenage years with her self esteem intact can be defined as a tight rope walk at times. Self esteem building begins as a child and continues building upon itself one step at a time. If along the tight rope walk of self esteem she finds herself missing her steps, substantial falls and injury may occur.

Keeping the tight rope walk of self esteem in mind, how can a teenage girl or teenage daughter keep one step ahead of the other to avoid tumbling to the ground below? Is there anything parents can do to aid in the process of self esteem building? I believe the answer to both of those questions is a resounding YES!

As a matter of fact, if you are a teenage girl and are reading this article, ask your mom or some other trusted adult to help you as you build self esteem up. If you are the parent of a teenage daughter and you happen to be reading this article in search of information to improve self esteem on behalf of your daughter, you have come to the right place.

The initial step in building self esteem back to a healthy level could possibly be the toughest. It requires total honesty with oneself. The mask of deception and false representations of oneself must be taken off and the individual must be able to see herself as open and bare.

Some of the masks could be in the form of anger. Anger is a defense mechanism that could be used to protect against others from seeing what is really going on inside of a person. The anger mask is put on when the individual feels threatened in some way. To those on the other side of the mask, the persona of toughness is seen, when actually on the inside of the anger, fear resides. There is also the fear from the discovery of inadequacies being revealed. Beneath the “anger mask” sits vulnerability and perceived weakness.

Another mask could be the mask of the “class clown”. This mask also does a really good job of sending the message that an individual is always joking around. Joking around and not being serious keeps others from learning what is really going on inside isn’t very funny at all. Laughing at the jokes is a lot better than laughing at the person that hides behind the mask of the class clown. To keep from being perceived as a “joke” the mask wearer tells jokes to keep everyone laughing at those rather than her as a person.

There is also the “Pollyanna mask”. These masks keep everyone on the other side in a constant state of desiring to be more like miss perfect as she is always so sweet and kind. Pollyanna never makes mistakes and everything always seems to be going just right with her. In all actuality, she is oftentimes the sickest of all of us. Underneath her mask, she is far from perfect and keeping the persona of being so perfect prevents her from forming real relationships. Nobody ever truly knows who Pollyanna-miss perfect really is, not even herself.

The masks of the “over achiever”, “workaholic”, “cleanaholic”, “committeeaholic”, “schoolclubaholic” etc. are all very similar. These are the people who over commit and over involve themselves in things because the busier they are with their time, the less time they have to spend with themselves alone. These mask wearers hide behind their busyness to keep others focusing on their hard work and involvement in activities rather than on the deficiencies that lies within themselves. They may be trying to prove to everyone that they are worthy and can actually be someone that others perceive as important or smart. In their attempts to undo the wrongs of their past, they oftentimes work themselves into a state of an emotional breakdown. It is hard to wear the “everyone can count on me” mask and be all things to all people.

There is a mask that girls and women put on called the “beauty mask”. This mask disguises the many flaws that lie beneath the make-up and name brand clothes. No amount of eye liner and mascara can ultimately hide what the eyes are truly saying. They are saying “I want you to believe that I am beautiful on the outside because if you really saw what I looked like underneath, you wouldn’t think I was beautiful at all”. Hiding behind the fabulous outfits, fancy beads, earrings, and makeup “beauty mask” is a shallow shield against the truth that screams “I want to love myself, but I don’t”!

The masks above are just some of the many masks that people wear. In improving self esteem, help your teenage daughter to discover and name the mask that she may be wearing. If you look close enough, you too may even discover that you wear a similar mask or have in the past. The road to self esteem building may be a journey you can take together. Like I said before, the first step is the most difficult because it calls for honesty and removal of the mask.

Many girls volleyball players don’t know how to use the Pepper Warm up Drill as a way to improve their volleyball game. Below are 5 ways elite women volleyball players use “Pepper” as a way to play better volleyball.

1. In womens volleyball, Pepper is first used To Improve Ball Control.

2. Secondly, women volleyball players use Pepper to Improve their Serve Receive Technique.

In girl’s volleyball I believe that Pepper is the number one way for indoor players to improve their ball control…if they know how to do it. You have to be aware of why you are Peppering in the first place. If not, then it just becomes a way to raise your body temperature…some.

a. When YOU set the volleyball -whoever sets should be working on form and technique.

The Goal- the volleyball should go right to your partner without them taking more than one step in any direction to chase your ball.

b. When Your partner passes back-concentration should be on using excellent form for serve receive and free ball passing-especially now since this is an easy ball.

The Goal- first to pass or bump the ball high enough so she can hit the ball right back without taking more than one step. Secondly, bump setting practice for accuracy so each and every ball goes right back to above the hitters extended hitting arm.

c. When You hit. You hit a controlled 1/2 to 3/4 speed down ball right to your partner. In this instance you have a controlled situation in which to practice the finer points of your armswing. Concentrate -on “reaching” raising your elbow and hitting high while controlling the ball speed. Don’t hit by your ear just because there’s no net! Hit low in Pepper means you hit low in hitting warm ups and then in your girls volleyball game. Trust me-it all transfers. Your body is recording every movement you make it do-so pledge to yourself to do the movements right.

The Goal- To hit the spot you are aiming for-which in Pepper is right to your partner-so that she doesn’t have to move more than one step UNLESS you choose to mix up your attack and include a tip to your partner. This is highly recommended after you have improved your ball control.

d. Your partner digs-focus on being down in your defensive position before your partner hits the ball meaning by the time she makes contact. Because Pepper partners are relatively close together you will automatically be developing quick reflexes. Here is where you practice combining quick reflex with BALL CONTROL. React quickly…then control the ball. React quickly then c-o-n-t-r-o-l the ball.

The Goal- Learning to absorb a hard hit ball at a close distance and delivering that ball (softly, gently people) in control to your target without making them move more than one step. Fight to maintain control of the ball.

3. Women Volleyball players use Pepper to Increase Their Range in Defense.

Advanced girl’s volleyball players can challenge their partners (you both need to agree to make the drill work) by tipping the ball further and further out of reach – the more of these balls you get in pepper-the more you will get in the game. It all transfers. Or by hitting a 1/2 to 3/4 speed down ball a foot or 2 to the right or left of the defender will increase your range of harder hit defensive balls that you dig up around you.

4. In womens and girls volleyball Pepper helps players To Narrow Their Focus and Increase Concentration.

In girls volleyball games Pepper warm ups often take place in a crowded environment. Either with 25 teammates on either side of you, or near that net divider that separates the volleyball courts in a tournament, fans that walk up and down the aisles, team benches, believe it or not this is a great practice oportunity- to narrow your focus and concentration so that it doesn’t matter what happens around you …the world can come to an end but your focus is only on the volleyball.

5. Women Volleyball players use Pepper To Increase Their Reactions and Reduce Fear of the Ball.

As your ball control gets better then you and your Pepper partner should agree to challenge each other to make each other better players. When you get to the point where you are exchanging 10-12 pass,set,hit combinations in a row Stop and both of you commit to hitting harder at each other. About 3/4 the speed of your regularly hit spike-BUT YOUR GOAL is to still to work up to as many pass-set-hit exchanges as you can while Controlling the ball. Your digs should still be going right to each other.