Mushrooming volleyball

Volleyball, volleyball everywhere. As some of you know, Kristi and I put together a boys' volleyball team, the HSRC Patriots. We were invited to a tournament up in Gurnee by Home Run Kids, a homeschool group located up there. Things changed, and it ended up that we played a couple of games up there last night, one against the host team and another against SWCHA, a Christian home school group from the Milwaukee suburbs.

We ended up with nine guys who attended at least one of the four practices we held leading up to last night's games. Of these, only a couple had played more than backyard volleyball. One of our starting setters could not make the game, so we were at a further disadvantage. Despite this, the guys had showed improvement over the few weeks, and we were interested to see how we matched up against some competition.

Our first game was against the host team. The Patriots were quite nervous, and it showed in their play. It was quite a contrast from a bunch of guys trying to learn volleyball fundamentals in a gym with a fifteen foot ceiling in half of it to playing with refs, line judges, fans, scorekeepers, etc. Gradually, however, they began to fell comfortable and play better. They did end up losing, however, by the scores of 25-14 and 25-21. The host team played the Wisconsin team next. Wow. Some serious hitting by the Wisconsin team. Three guys on the team were 6'2" or taller and they could crush the ball. They wiped out the host team 25-11, 25-13.

I told the guys that they were improving, and if they blocked a couple or dug a couple of the big hits, it might take the wind out of their sails. We did play tough the first game, but lost 25-14. I think, though, the guys got over any intimidation they might have had when they saw they could play with the other team. The second game was much better played, and if a couple of blocks we made fell on the other side of the net, the story might have been different. However, the Patriots lost 25-17. We found out after the game that the Wisconsin team has been playing together for four years, and plays in an adult rec league so they have a lot of game experience. The fact that we were competitive with them bodes well for the team.

Afterwards, the teams played some against each other before the Wisconsin team headed out. All in all, it was a good experience for our guys and they know what to expect a little more now.
Highlights during the games included a huge block by Luke L. during our rally in the last game, solid and consistent defense played throughout the night by our libero, Justin D., great serves (after the first game) by Justin V. and good all-around play by the other guys.

It looks like we'll be playing these two teams again next Friday, along with the Wisconsin team's JV. There also may be some skill competitions, so it sounds like it could be fun.