I've witness many teams that have played season after season together, building upon the skills and personality of each player to create their own identity. It has been some time since I was with a team that stayed together more than one season since my first team. Move ahead a couple of seasons down the road, I was lucky enough to team up with some friends and I felt we had reached a close knit team after a few seasons together (summer 2004 through spring 2005). Watching that opponent team last night reminded me of that team. We were called different names--"100% Spike Proof" and "What's Old's, New Again." Cheesy names, yes, but I tried to be clever with the team names and obviously failed miserably. We played in the Big City league, and it was my college friend Barbara, her then-boyfriend-and-future husband Mark, their family friend Mark, in addition to Jerome, Bob, and Sue from that Sunday backcourt crew. This team actually came about when Sue and I were talking about forming a team when we saw a performance of WICKED that June.
We realized we only had a few days to put the team together and luckily those we had asked came aboard, and I served as captain (again). I do like having the organizational cap, but I forgot how much emotional baggage comes along with that cap.We won a few, lost more than our share, had a few arguments, and even an injury but we always stood together as a team. That injury involved Sue. It happened simple enough, we were playing at this crappy gym up on 88th just off Park Avenue, and she went up to tap the ball over the net, reaching high with her hand. When she came down, she immediately walked off the court and kept circling with her hand clasped to her stomach. We kept asking if she was alright but she wouldn't let us look at the hand. She just kept repeating "give me a minute, leave me alone" so we called a time-out. We thought she just jammed her finger, but we were wrong. She finally stopped circling and let us look at her finger, she held it up for all of us to see--it was bent at a 45 degree angle. Not a pretty sight and I'm sure it hurt like hell, but she did not cry or scream, she just said "I need to get to a hospital." The refereee let us have an extended time-out and we grabbed her stuff and Barbara, Anne, and I took her to get a cab. For some reason, it was the hardest thing to find a cab at that moment. We were running up Park Avenue at three different points while Sue just stood at the corner, completely in pain but again showing little discomfort. She handled it beautifully. We finally got her into a cab and we went back into the gym. We won the next two games for Sue, and after the game, the team went to the hospital to wait with her. Her finger was broken and they just popped it back into place. As we sat in the waiting area, I felt grateful for that team at that moment because it was moments like that where the team took care of each other, and if it had been me with the injury they would have done the same thing. Support on the court and off the court.
I miss those guys and we don't see each other enough. Most of them don't play with a league team anymore and some haven't touched a volleyball in almost two years. With busy schedules, it is hard to even see one person just for a get together, sometimes it just doesn't work out. Sue and I have been trying to get together for dinner, coffee, a movie or anything for over a year now, but it's just how things are. Still I have the memories.
SCORECARD
Viewed Matches
NYU Men's vs. Vassar College: 3-0
Ray and Mike's Team (Five Old, One Young): 3-0
Dave and Hui's Team (DFA): 2-1
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