We Can Play

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Why We Can Play! Matters — and Why the Story Isn’t Over

We Can Play! is the turning-point book in Keli Stennes’ journey. It’s the moment when talent, support, and familiarity fall away—and what’s left is the question every serious athlete eventually faces: What happens when you have to do this on your own?

At the heart of this story is what’s next for Keli. Volleyball hasn’t ended—but the path forward is suddenly unclear. Club volleyball represents her chance to keep chasing a college dream, yet the reality is heavy: how can she and her mother afford it? What sacrifices will it take? And what happens if the one person who has always been her lifeline on the court—Ashley—isn’t able to play?

Ashley’s cancer changes everything.

For the first time, Keli steps into volleyball without her anchor. No familiar rhythm. No shared language. No built-in confidence. She’s surrounded by talented players who don’t speak the same emotional or competitive language, and she doesn’t even know her true role on the team yet. She’s not sure where she fits, how she’ll be seen, or whether she’s enough on her own.

At the same time, life in her hometown begins to settle back into something that feels almost normal—and that normal complicates everything. Old feelings resurface. The boy next door represents comfort, history, and understanding, while her boyfriend at her new school represents ambition and the future she’s working toward. Keli is pulled in opposite directions, emotionally and mentally, at the exact moment she needs clarity most.

Ashley, meanwhile, fights her own battle. Unable to play, she pours herself into fixing Keli—using coaching, analysis, and honest confrontation as a way to stay connected to the sport that has shaped her entire life. Helping Keli recover mentally and emotionally becomes part of Ashley’s own healing. Their friendship evolves from shared experience to shared purpose.

Interwoven through this roller-coaster season are moments that shake Keli to her core: reconnecting with Coach Lindsay, confronting jealousy she doesn’t want to admit, and realizing how deeply she still wants Lindsay’s approval—not just as a coach, but as a guide. Beneath it all is Keli’s fear that recruiting may never come, that coaches won’t see her, that time is slipping away.

Then come the truths about her father. Stories she never knew. A past that reshapes how she understands sacrifice, risk, and responsibility. These revelations don’t comfort her—they sharpen her resolve.

We Can Play! is not about winning tournaments. It’s about surviving the season that forces Keli to grow up. To lead herself. To compete without a safety net. To sit with jealousy, fear, and uncertainty—and keep going anyway.

This book matters because it shows the moment when potential turns into ownership.

And it’s why readers keep going.

Because Keli’s dream of playing in college is still alive—but now the road is steeper, lonelier, and far more real.

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