Well, I just got in from a very long night of playing. I just popped an Aleve and waiting for it to kick in. It has been busy at work as we prepare for an event this Sunday and I've just been making sure that people need the supplies they will need and also setting up all the items the finance department will need to process all the money that will be coming in that day. Last year we just reached over $505,000 for the one day flea market and auction we have in the heart of the theatre district. Also I've been trying to plan things I need in preparation for my drive up to Cooperstown for my friends' wedding on Saturday. Zach is part of the far backcourt Brandeis crew of three years ago and over the past couple of years I've gotten to know his fiancee, Anna. I remember how smitten Zach was about her when he brought her to a birthday party for one of the girls from the Brandeis backcourt group. Then just last December, I remember Zach telling me his plans for a special date with her after she got back from a trip and just a few days later I got a message saying that they got engaged. So today when Vanessa was hitting me up on gchat asking about rotations and stuff my mind had not gotten around to the fact that we had a playoff game.
See tonight we made it to the playoffs after finishing the regular season at the top of the list of the Rock & Roll Division. So we met up against Vandalay Industries, our first opponent of the season, in the semi-finals of the night. We were happy to have two great cheerleaders, Trisha and Claire, who somehow managed to irritate her bum ankle while sitting on the sidelines and not even moving. We had a few subs as a couple of our regular players couldn't make it, so we welcomed John, Lisa, and Mary. Our first game was relatively okay and we took that one but we had a few problems with our second game. We were literally serving for the game in six rotations without closing out the game at game point, and the other team came back to take the game. I was not a happy camper since we got forced into a third deciding game. This game went a little smoother but people were more cautious with their plays, trying to play smart rather than with power. We were able to settle down and take this game to advance to the finals. Well, the other team had a good amount of time to rest while we had to start the finals game immediately because we were running behind schedule. We were trying to fix the rotation problems we had in the semi-finals and we thought we did until we realized that we had our shortest line on the front and all three of our guys on the backline. Our competitors for the finals were the Rejects and even though we played them in the regular season just a couple of weeks ago, I could not remember playing this team. They came out pretty fast in the beginning with their consistent passing and solid hits that left us a little disoriented. We were trying to adjust to the new team while trying to catch our breath from the last three-game match. They ended up taking the first game from us with a score of 15-8. It was like we were scared of this team. We needed to approach them differently than the last team but I know that fatigue played a bit of a factor. So we got into the second game and I was getting a little frustrated and my boiling point was at its highest when the score got to be 7-14. They needed just one more point to win the finals. I had pretty much written off our team as losing this match and even if we were not going to win we needed to at least play tough on the last points. I was watching from the sidelines and I somehow witnessed our team with John serving go from being down 7-14 to taking the lead at 15-14. When the other team took a time-out, the Dinkin' Do-Nots had a lot of reasons to have huge grins on their faces. No matter how the game turned out, we had put up a great fight and the large guys on the other side were all of a sudden scared. I still couldn't believe it but it was a new game. I rotated in at the next serve and it soon became 15-15. The tension was so high on that court. It didn't help that the gym was completely empty and the gym was so still in silence. Both teams fought for each point and we finally reached 16-16 with us serving for the point cap. And the unimaginable happened, we won THAT second game from sure defeat (at least to me). The Do-Nots had arrived and the emotion that had propelled us all season had returned--TO HAVE FUN. We laughed, cheered, and stayed positive for the third game and we were able to jump into the lead and never lost it. Our errors were brushed aside and some of them became hilarious moments like Dee taking a pass with her "chicken wings" and Vanessa losing her shoe when she went for a dink. We were playing in top form in our 6th game of the evening and came out victorious. This team was created to have fun, sort of a good way to spend a weeknight where we could hang out with friends. For myself there were moments when I did lose it but I was always reminded that it was ALL FOR FUN. Congratulations to the Dinkin' Do-Nots, now onto the Quads.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
"Hell No!" (THE COLOR PURPLE)
Well, the Dinkin' Do-Nots were in top form last night. We had a small cheering section, well three people still counts as a section. It was down at the Chelsea School which has no space behind the end line and the ceiling is kind of low but they just had the floors redone and it was pretty slick. We kept sliding but it was nice that they finally got the floors done. We took all three games against the team that we had been waiting for the last half of the season, ever since they called our team names (in Spanish). They were good competitors last night and they were very calm and nice to us. We even came back in game two to beat them and they had a complete self-destruct moment. One of their teammates proceeded to holler at another one and it was not a pretty situation. We kept our usual demeanor throughout the entire match and that was to HAVE FUN. That was what this team was formed for, to have fun and play a good game of volleyball. We've had a game or two where we stopped laughing and let the other team get to us and we start going at each other which is not a good thing. We've learned how to deal with that and hopefully we'll continue to improve and still keep our sense of humor on the court. So now we finished the season in the Number 1 spot. The playoffs are on Thursday night so we might see this team again and we will be ready. Also a new season starts next week and we have a scrimmage on Wednesday night for that one. We're losing a few people and gaining some really great people so I'm looking forward to the new season. Also I'm still waiting to hear about any possible games to referee. Actually our referee last night is the assignor for the Urban league and he knows who I am and has my application but I haven't received any calls. He said he would let me know if anything opens up. He knows I'm ready.
Monday, September 17, 2007
"Popular" (WICKED)
Oh my, my, my, my!!! I have truly been neglectful. Accuse me and abuse me for totally being neglectful of this blog. I can't believe so much time has slipped away from me. I was also reminded of how quickly time can get away from you when we ended the summer of beach volleyball just a couple of weeks ago and yet it seemed like months ago. But there have been a lot of going-ons and I've just been trying to keep up. I tell people that if I don't stay active then I feel like I'm not doing something right. I need to be out there and it doesn't have to be anything large in scope but at least something that I support or believe in. I'm afraid that if I slow down too much it will be that much harder to get back on track.
So let me back up a few weeks. I just finished a summer season with my friend Mel's team in the Big City league. Now this is the league that started it all for me so it was a little strange to get back, it was 4 years ago that I walked into that open scrimmage and met a few people such as Veronica and my good friend, Anne Tam. Anyway, Mel called me one day and asked me to sub on her team so I agreed. I went and played with her team and they were such a good group of people. They asked if I could be a permanent sub so I played with them for the rest of the season. It was a lot of fun and it was great to just hang out with Mel. She is busy starting her own company and don't get a chance to see her at all but she kept such a positive attitude on the court even in the face of glooming defeat that it was a lesson to always keep hold of.
I also spent a lot of Saturdays in Queens at the Water Taxi Beach. We had met some people out at Long Beach who mentioned the place so we checked it out one Saturday and continued to hang out over there. It has one court for sand volleyball but the sand is so coarse and just about a foot above concrete so it is really tough on the body especially if you dive into the sand. I didn't play on that court, I choose to just sit and watch, relaxing mostly. It's still open until Columbus Day weekend but I don't know if I'll get a chance to get out there. Also it has an amazing view of the skyline and at dusk it is just breathtaking.
Well spent the last weekend of summer out at Long Beach. It was beautiful weather and it was spent playing ball, hanging out with friends, and just enjoying the beach. And of course the Friday nights at Brandeis are still going on and we've had updates on that front. We've had weddings and also break-ups but we finally had our first baby from the Brandeis crowd. Jon and Mae met at Brandeis open play and just had a little girl last week and I've yet to meet her but the pictures I've received have been absolutely adorable. I love babies and just the smell of them makes me want one but that feeling goes away real quickly once they start crying or make a stink.
Tonight is a rescheduled match from the summer season. We are tied for first place with this team and the playoffs are this Thursday. We really want to beat them because in our last meeting things were not very pleasant. Our referee was in an accident and didn't make it to the gym so the teams on that court were just left to play around during the scheduled times. So we started playing around with this team and I acted as a referee by doing calls from the stand. It was all done in fun but the other team had a few members who were talking about our team in Spanish. One of our team members was doing the translations and they were not very nice things, pretty derogatory. We ended up beating them in a little three game match just as a practice and we look forward to this re-match. So I'm on my way to that game now. If we play like we have been and working together as a team and remember to HAVE FUN. We'll be fine.
So let me back up a few weeks. I just finished a summer season with my friend Mel's team in the Big City league. Now this is the league that started it all for me so it was a little strange to get back, it was 4 years ago that I walked into that open scrimmage and met a few people such as Veronica and my good friend, Anne Tam. Anyway, Mel called me one day and asked me to sub on her team so I agreed. I went and played with her team and they were such a good group of people. They asked if I could be a permanent sub so I played with them for the rest of the season. It was a lot of fun and it was great to just hang out with Mel. She is busy starting her own company and don't get a chance to see her at all but she kept such a positive attitude on the court even in the face of glooming defeat that it was a lesson to always keep hold of.
I also spent a lot of Saturdays in Queens at the Water Taxi Beach. We had met some people out at Long Beach who mentioned the place so we checked it out one Saturday and continued to hang out over there. It has one court for sand volleyball but the sand is so coarse and just about a foot above concrete so it is really tough on the body especially if you dive into the sand. I didn't play on that court, I choose to just sit and watch, relaxing mostly. It's still open until Columbus Day weekend but I don't know if I'll get a chance to get out there. Also it has an amazing view of the skyline and at dusk it is just breathtaking.
Well spent the last weekend of summer out at Long Beach. It was beautiful weather and it was spent playing ball, hanging out with friends, and just enjoying the beach. And of course the Friday nights at Brandeis are still going on and we've had updates on that front. We've had weddings and also break-ups but we finally had our first baby from the Brandeis crowd. Jon and Mae met at Brandeis open play and just had a little girl last week and I've yet to meet her but the pictures I've received have been absolutely adorable. I love babies and just the smell of them makes me want one but that feeling goes away real quickly once they start crying or make a stink.
Tonight is a rescheduled match from the summer season. We are tied for first place with this team and the playoffs are this Thursday. We really want to beat them because in our last meeting things were not very pleasant. Our referee was in an accident and didn't make it to the gym so the teams on that court were just left to play around during the scheduled times. So we started playing around with this team and I acted as a referee by doing calls from the stand. It was all done in fun but the other team had a few members who were talking about our team in Spanish. One of our team members was doing the translations and they were not very nice things, pretty derogatory. We ended up beating them in a little three game match just as a practice and we look forward to this re-match. So I'm on my way to that game now. If we play like we have been and working together as a team and remember to HAVE FUN. We'll be fine.
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