volleyball tournament

Today I played in a 6 hour volleyball tournament. This was quite the feat as I have not played volleyball competitively (I use this term loosely) since highschool. It was a social club event therefore I was some what obligated to be there. Plus my partner in crime (Robyn) was one of the event organizers therefore we have a pack that we attend each other's events.

I was a bit tired this morning having spent the night watching 2 movies (Omen and MirrorMask) till nearly 4am. The tournament started at 9am. Being prepared (sarcastic), I woke up at the wrong time and realized that we're on daylight savings time. I didn't know what time the team was meeting at the dome either. :-) Thank goodness Robyn was on top of things and filled me in.

I knew I was in trouble when I walked into the Harry Jerome Sports Center on Barnet Hwy (it's that big white dome). That's where many volleyball teams or cyclists practice as the floor of the dome is sloped at a 45 degree angle (for the cyclists). Embarassing moments included:

• Running up the net during our practice round to do a practice block and realizing that I can't actually jump high enough to clear my fingers over the top of the net. The net was set at women's standard.
• Having an opponent say "stop the ball with your foot"; I was up at the net and looked down to see a ball spinning around at my feet. I didn't know where it came from as I was busy looking at other people on my own court. So I stopped it and kicked it back to the guy that was talking to me. I was then informed that the spinning ball determines who serves first. Ooops...
• Getting to experience the power of real league players. So scary!!! There were many times when all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and have them not hit me with their serves. I thought wearing long sleeves would help - it didn't. The ball still burns when it hits you. I was all for mercy treatment from any good player. :-) No kneepads = no diving (for me anyways).
• Taking a service from a guy right in the face. I saw it coming fast and was only able to partially turn my face. I thought he broke my nose. I came off the court for a bit and my sub came on. The guy was nice enough to run over to see if there was damage.
  
• Meeting a (tall) chinse girl that liked to use our team mates as her own little shooting ducks when she served. We each took hits off our faces, chests, legs, heads and backs (as Sonya tried to turn and run the other way).
• Serious players are big on net violations. Basically touching the net and falling into it is a no-no. So is jumping upto block and having your fingers get tangled in the netting on the way down.
  
• My lack of physical endurance made playing more challenging. It's hard to run after the ball and bump it in the right direction if you can barely speak through each gasp of breath. :-) It's all about "calling" for the ball. But the adrenaline was pumping!
• I SUCK at serving. If I'm lucky enough to have my ball go over the net then it's in this beautiful high arch that give the other team time to calculate their volly and target spike zone. I think I lost a lot of points for my team each time I stepped up to serve!
  

As our team peered through the netting at the desirable "blue" courts and dreamed of a day when we would actually win a game and get to move out of the loser's circle, we consoled our spirits by telling ourselves that the other teams were too serious and were not having as much fun as we were. Over all I had an exhausting and FUN time. My team mates were very spirited (we drew a lot of attention as we laughing and goofing off). We may have been the losing team but we had a great time doing it. I have to add that there were no injuries suffered therefore I will probably sign up for this event again in the summer. How often does one get the opportunity to be slaughtered by Vancouver Vollyball league (division A), SFU and UBC volleyball players?! Alright!!!