Venting

Some things I need to get off my chest:

Our state competition is through the ICSTS - Indiana Christian State Tournament Series, or something like that. We have really no choice, as we are not a home-school team, so we can't compete in the home-school tournament, but we have home-schoolers on the team, so we can't compete in the IACS tournament. So we have this organization. Three things.

The first is last year's state tournament. We got to stay in Indianapolis all day because the tournament people were worried that the girls would be overstressed by playing two matches without several hours in-between. Please. After watching the girls play their guts out over four matches from 10:30 till 6:00 at the Dayspring Volleyball classic, I would beg to differ. Strongly.

Number two: the groupings. Yes, I understand geography. I understand north, northeast, east, south, even east-northeast. But I also understand flexibility and balance. I understand that a school in Lafayette could be construed to be in western Indiana, northern Indiana or northwestern Indiana. The fact that the powers that be put them in northwestern Indiana shows that the those powers don't understand the concepts of flexibility or balance. Which brings me to my third issue.

The rankings. ICSTS doesn't have much info on their website, but they do have rankings. I have no idea what their criteria are for determining ranking. I am scratching my head trying to figure out why Heritage is ranked fifth while Faith is first. I have no problem with Faith first. I just don't get why the team that lost to them in the finals of our tournament 16-14 in the deciding third game is four notches below. The difference between the two teams is whisper-thin, but the ICSTS people managed to squeeze three teams in between them, one of which lost in the second round of the Calumet tournament.

So yes, I haven't seen Columbus Inferno or Horizon. But I have seen Clinton. They lost in the second round of our tournament. They're a fine team. But they are not as good as Heritage. I don't think they are as good as us. Yet Clinton is ranked third in the state while Heritage is ranked fifth.

So let me get back to my second point. I believe that Faith and Heritage are the two best teams in the state, and we're not far behind. But all three of us are in the same regional, the northwest. Faith certainly could have been placed in the central region, or even the north.

Which leads me to this: if you want to see the real ICSTS state championship, come to Heritage Christian High in Dyer this Saturday. The following Saturday in Indianapolis is bound to be anticlimactic.