Moving on

to volleyball (the greatest sport in the world). The sports banquet for CBS was held Thursday night, so I'm using this event as the transition from one sport to the next. I know, I know, you're saying volleyball season doesn't begin until August. But no, volleyball fills the vacuum. If there isn't basketball, then there is volleyball.

Anyway, as I was saying (writing?), the banquet was Thursday night, and it was fun if somewhat bittersweet, as this was the last one for CBS. (As you all know, CBS is merging with Calvary Christian School and will eventually be operating under the Calvary name.) The food was light and healthy. Ahem. Well... it WAS delicious. The fellowship was great. It was nice seeing the players and families again.

Coach Carr did a great job recapping the season for both the JV and the varsity teams. She only choked up once (which I believe is the record for the fewest choke-ups by Coach Carr at a banquet). She gave out several awards and the girls presented her with flowers, and her and Coach Casey with mementos for eleven years together. (Apparently the girls don't realize we operate on a ten-based numbering system.) A photo montage put to music was presented, and Coaches Carr and Casey enjoyed it until the last group of photos, when they were seen noticably grimacing. Lots of bad form. I guess their coaching switches are on all the time.

Open gyms are already in full swing. Many of the returning girls are playing on club teams. Camp will be on us before we know it and then it will be wall-to-wall volleyball. I hope to use this blog to recap games and to cover other team matters throughout the season. I can't wait (as if you couldn't tell.)

Annoyed

If anyone is trying to click on the website links, you will have found that they are no longer live. I went on the NACA website, and all the sports info they have is about basketball. I hope they will be including all their sports info on the site again soon.

Final note

The Patriots wrapped everything up with the end-of the year banquet held at Family of Faith Church in Monee, Illinois. Everyone was able to attend, with many family members also in attendance. After prayer, we dove into the delicious food that each family brought. Coach then read various passages from the Bible and talked about the growth of the team and the parallels that can be drawn to our growth in our spiritual walk. He talked of "fundamentals of the faith", and charged the girls with walking with the Lord in obedience to His word. He thanked the parents for all that they did to help this season to come off, after all the turmoil at the beginning of the year. He then invited the whole team to come up. Each member of the team was called forward individually, and Coach told us what the player has meant to the team, what gifts she brought and then he presented each with a Patriots t-shirt and a trophy. Following this, a video was presented that Michele put together. The collective intelligence of several fathers and brothers were needed to get this going, but it finally was accomplished. The video itself was well-done, and brought many cheers and laughs from the team. After some further fellowship and some clean-up, the evening's activities came to a close.

I had a great time doing this blog. I appreciate all the kind words many of you expressed regarding your enjoyment of it. I apologize for not updating it quickly enough after games (I didn't realize that some of you were looking so forward to the recaps!). It was fun and the season was fun.

See everyone next year. Girls - think tall thoughts ;-)