Wee Hours - Redux

Yes, another volleyball post. For those who are interested but, mostly, for my own enjoyment and edification.

It is again 5:30am and (again) I've been up/awake for, roughly, an hour plus. No volleyball today, but volleyball is what is on my mind. Also, I had some chocolate last night (Sunday doesn't count for the ol' Lenten fast) which might account for 4ish hours of sleep. Maybe. Playoff volleyball carries its own hyper-stimulation.

Some context: as a Catholic school (of course my kids go to Catholic school) we play in the CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) league of the Seattle Archdiocese. The vast majority of teams we play against are our fellow Catholic schools (CYO allows the occasional secular private school to participate also), so many of these schools are teams we see many times over the years, in various sports. Schools have rivalries; schools have reputations. And schools have strengths and weaknesses (by class). 

Our school is a small one...tiny. My son's class size is 17...eight boys and nine girls. Our parish has a vibrant Latino community thanks to its offering of bi-lingual (Spanish) services...one of the reasons my wife and I chose this parish for our family, besides its close proximity to our home. However, the majority of the Latino families send their children to public schools rather than our school, despite the fact our school offers Spanish language class from kindergarten through 8th grade (another reason we chose to enroll our children).

To say that our school is NOT known for athletics would be a gross understatement. These days (i.e. unlike in my youth) CYO is very interested in giving all students an opportunity to play sports, and as such schools are allowed to partner together with other schools (or simply have their students join larger schools) in order to play sports. My son has played CYO soccer since kindergarten, but he has not played under his own school's name since 5th grade (when they shifted from 7v7 to 9v9); in basketball, he's NEVER played for his own school (there are only four boys in the class that play). Same with cross country and track. It is what it is.

That we were able to put together a full volleyball roster is...amazing. Last year we had a combined team of 7th graders and 8th graders. All three of my 7th grade players returned this year, and they brought three of their five classmates. The one 7th grader from St. Matthew's (another small parish) that played last year also returned, and we got one new 8th grader (Jesus) who attends the parish but doesn't attend the school proper. Finally, we are once again including 7th graders on our (8th grade) roster with two from our own school and one from St. Benedict's...a traditional partner school of ours that is even smaller. None of these new boys had ever played team volleyball before this year.

When last I wrote, we we were about to play our penultimate regular season game against a hated rival; I'll call them "AB." Hated is a pretty strong word, but they are a school with an obnoxious reputation (in sports) and a rather unlikeable coach who has a tendency to jump out of her seat (not allowed under the league regulations) and yells instructions to her team continuously throughout matches. The team is large in size and numbers (a maxed out 15 man roster), and tends to get by on their athleticism. We played them on their home court with a biased referee (an alum of the school) and we lost...mostly (IMO) from us losing our cool over questionable calls. They finished 7-1 and #2 in the Northern division while we finished #3 after beating (what I considered to be) the best team in our division in the final week of the season (a team who had been undefeated in play before we beat them...their only other loss coming by forfeit when most of their players were taking a high school placement test for Seattle Prep).

So, at 6-2 (our only other loss being in the first week...mostly due to nerves...against last year's champ and the eventual #1 seed of our division), we entered the playoffs this weekend. Single elimination. Our first game was on Saturday and (as with all playoff games) was played at a neutral site (St. Louise in Bellevue) with League official scorekeepers and referees. The last time we had been in that gymnasium was last year, for our first (and last) playoff game of last season...a game in which my son injured himself making a diving save (scoring the point!) before having to be carried off the court. He sprained his MCL that day, which caused him to miss soccer tryouts for his club team (and was subsequently cut/sent down to a lower division) and prevented him from most athletics till July. 

ANYway...we won (against the #5 seed from the South division) in straight sets 2-0. 

Which set up yesterday's (Sunday's) quarter-final game against AB at 5:30pm in West Seattle.

The players were pretty keyed up...as you might imagine. Excited to be playing, fired up to avenge their earlier loss, a little worn out from a long-weekend (not only did we play Saturday, but this was the weekend of our school's Spring Musical...which has all middle school kids participating. Most of our players came directly from the Sunday "matinee" performance). Some were tense just from the drive to West Seattle in the pouring rain (there was pickup truck accident on the West Seattle bridge that is never helpful). Nathan was out sick. Herbert wasn't going to make it by game time. That kind of thing.

I said to them: "You guys ever watch sports movies?" Yeah. "You know how there's always a hero team and a jerk team that gets its comeuppance at the end? Well, today's our movie day when we knock off the jerks." That settled them down and fired 'em up.

While the rules of volleyball are pretty straightforward (best two out of three sets, first two sets to 25, third to 15, rally scoring, sets must be won by two points), the method of tracking scores is fairly intricate, as there are specific rules/procedures for serves and substitutions. In addition, CYO has specific rules with regard to participation and playing time (all players must serve at least once, all players must play at least 25% of the game). None of this is a problem for us (my wife is our scorekeeper), but it's cool because these intricate score cards allow me to recreate the game as they played out. Here's how yesterday's game went:

Coaches and captains met with the ref. Our captains for today were Diego (my son) and Atticus. Atticus is, perhaps, the nicest, kindest kid in class and is (definitely) the least competitive. He is good at volleyball (he was one of my players last year) but he plays it because its fun and he likes his friends (he plays no other competitive sports). He has also begged me all season NOT to make him a captain (captains on the court are the ONLY people allowed to address the ref during games and are responsible for having their players ordered and lined-up). I told Atticus after our win Saturday that he would be a captain against AB, no "but-but-buts" about it. Before the game I told him: "I am empowering you to be a leader with your kindness. You make sure our team is being kind to each other, and kind to the other team. Help them stay out of the whole drama that comes with playing this AB team...that's your job as the captain." He understood. As the "away" (lower seeded) team, he called the coin toss, which we won, and...as I always do...we deferred serve till the second set. 

We returned their serve to score the first point but immediately gave it back with our first server, Judah. They scored a point before we won a rally (making it 2-2), then gave it back again (Diego's serve), another exchange, then Evan got an extra point before they rallied, we exchanged again, and immediately gave it back after Atticus's serve. The game sitting at 5-5. They then served five in a row before we rallied, but an immediate exchange (Jesus serving) followed by a point put us down 12-6. I then subbed in Herbert for Evan.

Evan is the shyest, quietest kid on our the team...he has literally said less than 10 words to me all season (in practices or games). Maybe six words? And yet, he has the main role in the musical and I watched this kid rattling off plenty of memorized lines along with (not very tuneful) singing. He's one of our taller players, but he lacks quickness, decisiveness, and agility. He plays soccer to be with his friends but he's generally a bench player. Herb, on the other hand, is a 7th grader who plays premier soccer (same club as my son but a year behind) and is used to high level competition. Neither have played volleyball before but they both bring their own strengths: Evan, who's been taking tennis lessons, is one of our most consistent servers, while Herb has raw athleticism and competitive fire.

They score another point (13-6) and I call timeout. I check in with them, remind them there's no time limit, make sure they're calm, deep breaths, locked in. They rally and Ryan scores a point before we exchange and the gap is narrowed to six.

We immediately rally to make it 14-9 and then Judah, our gentle giant from St. Matt's parish, gives us 10, 11, and 12. He's going under-hand today, not trusting his nerves (6'3", bespectacled kid who's actually homeschooled, the Panther kids have embraced him since last year). I consider subbing him out after the exchange (like Evan, he's one of our slower backline players) but decide to let it ride. They score another point before we exchange and now the score is only 16-13.

Then its time for "Nails" to step in: my son, the Capricorn, has icewater in his veins (you should see him take PKs). He serves up 14, 15, and 16 to tie the score. Then he serves up 17 to take the lead and the AB coach calls timeout. I check in with our players...they are locked, they are solid, they've been here before. We would scrimmage our 8th grade girls back at the beginning of the season and routinely go down 8 or 10 points and have to claw our way back. This is what we do.

And now the crowd is chanting from the bleachers on the opposite side. "Let's go Panthers!" (*boom*boom*boom*) "Let's go Panthers!" (*boom*boom*boom). I have never heard this before at an elementary school event. Not volleyball, not basketball, not anything. It's rather incredible.

The timeout ends, the crowd goes silent (viewers are REQUIRED to be silent during serves). Diego scores another point to put us up 18-16 (thunderous applause) and then the exchange. 

The ref awards a point to AB for a bad switch in the front row (we use designated setters: Jesus and Diego for this set), and they score another to get to 19, but we win the next rally and we know we have them on the ropes. I sub Evan back onto the court to serve...no need to call time. Evan goes 20, 21, 22, 23 and the AB coach calls timeout. I was told later (I wasn't paying any attention) that she was actually yelling at and berating her players on the court. That's her deal, not mine. I told the team: two points...we just need a rally and a serve and we can move on to the next set. "Or," I said to Evan with a smile, "two more serves. If you want to." Evan said nothing (he never does), but he smiled and he gave me two more serves and we closed it out 25-19.

The tale of the second set was much the same, so I'll be quicker with the telling. They went up 6-1 to start before we got into our rhythm, but at 11-6 I subbed Ryan in for Nicolas. Nicolas is a big guy (tall, not fat) who has good instincts, but his feet are stuck in mud...it doesn't help that he misses practices for ice hockey (his other sport). Ryan, my son's best friend, is the shortest kid on the team (shorter than Diego) but has the biggest mouth (it runs non-stop)...a club basketball player, he's got excellent quickness and agility and is a ferocious competitor. We rally and Jesus takes over.

When we heard we were getting a new kid named "Jesus" this year, the kids joked "Jesus will save us!" When he missed the first two/three weeks of practice we wondered if he'd ever show up...and after missing so much work, there was some grumbling that "He better know how to play volleyball." Well he does, and he's the best overall player on the team. Only slightly taller than Diego (i.e. not that tall) he's stout and athletic and LOVES volleyball (his whole family is into the sport). Sporting long, "beautiful" hair (as described by one parent the other day), when he's on, he's on. He may be even more competitive than my son (the only other person I've seen with tears after a loss). 

Jesus serves us up to 10 before AB calls a timeout, desperate. The crowd is chanting again now (I believe it was Jesus's family that started the chants...Mexicans, go figure). There's not much for me to do or say during the timeout besides "finish strong." Jesus takes us up to 14, before they rally. 

They get back to 16, but I don't panic. Herbert serves and we exchange. I put Nicolas back in for Ryan (I want Nicolas to serve; he's consistent), Logan exchanges, they exchange, Nicolas serves up 18 and 19 to take the lead, then back to them where they take the lead to 20, before another exchange ties it up and Kieran comes in. 

Kieran is about as stereotypical an Irish Catholic kid as you see. He's got the red hair and freckles, he was born on St. Patrick's day, he acted as both an altar server and Eucharistic Minister at Mass the night before (I know...we were there and he gave me Communion). He comes from a musical family and plays multiple instruments...for school Masses he accompanies the choir on the piano. While he's done a lot of swimming in the past and is coordinated, this is the first time EVER that he has played on any competitive sports team. He can get a little "adrenalized" in these games.

He hits an overhand rocket that nearly goes out of bounds...he is obviously amped up. He takes a big step back and sends in another huge shot that nearly kills some poor kid. Now our whole bench is laughing. "What did Kieran have for breakfast this morning?" Ryan says: "We're going to storm the court!" I say: "Don't you dare." Ryan, on the bench is yelling at Kieran to move back, as he continues to put a heavy dose of mustard on his shots. We hit 23 and the AB coach calls a timeout. "We just need a serve and a rally," is all I need to say. They smile. They know. It's all over but the shouting (or chanting, in this case). "You feeling it a bit today, Kieran?" I joke, and he chuckles...he's practically floating.

He gets to 24 before they return one, Diego sets to Herbert who spikes into the net (probably Herb's only missed spike of the game) and AB gets the ball back. 

But it doesn't matter. They serve, Nicolas bumps it up in the air, Diego sets it beautifully to Jesus who spikes it off the head of some poor kid in the front row...an exclamation point on a team that could have been disqualified (under CYO rules) for their coach's antics in the playoff game the day before (we stayed to watch after we finished Saturday). I told the coach of that team, "We'll get 'em for you tomorrow." And we did.  Then we cheered 'em out and shook hands and I told the boys we'd have normal practice this week (ahead of our semi-final match next Saturday), now that the musical was over and we could use our gym again (last week we were practicing at a different school...not ideal).

Ah, sports. So fun, so exhilarating. Probably not as exciting to read about as to watch in person, but writing it up helps me remember the experience, the emotion, the stress, the joy. For the rest of the day, it's pretty much all my family talked about...but we get excited about sport. Not everyone does. 

But boy, the parents of these kids are sure having fun this year.

; )

There are only four teams left, and they are all exceptional teams. I had the chance to watch all of them play on Sunday and take their measure:

St. Al/John: a two school combo that always partners together. While most school's would choose to field one large team (like AB does), St. Al/John's has taken the "interesting" approach of fielding two small teams, one of which is stocked with their best athletes. This is their "A" team; an eight-man squad, they won the 7th grade championship last year (when we were playing up a grade) and at 7-1 were the top team in the North division. They handed us our first loss of the season, mainly due to nerves (I felt we were the better team, but it was our first game and we had a lot of "frozen" players) on the court. I figured they were pretty fraudulent as their record was pumped up playing the bottom-feeders (their only loss was to a 4-4 team)...however, watching them play yesterday, it's clear they have improved steadily over the course of the season. Very tough.

Holy Rosary Seattle: a team stocked with what appears to be varsity basketball players; tall, strong, athletic kids. They were only #3 in the South division, but maybe they lost games because their players were out playing club hoop tournaments? They are a little "exuberant"...their hammer serves fly over the back line nearly as often as they land in, and they mistime many of their spikes, hitting net on easy lay-ups...but this is the kind of team that, if they get rolling and 'in the zone,' they can steamroller teams. I have been told they were the runners-up last year and have a bone to pick with St. Al/John; their head coach is an old codger who looks like he was coaching volleyball since before I was born. 

St. Anthony: the #1 seed out of the South division, and the only 8-0 team. A team composed of mainly Filipino and Southeast Asian kids (judging from the last names on their jerseys), this is an extremely well-coached, well-disciplined team. A fifteen player roster, they have three coaches, and run a circuit training warm up in small groups. Very coordinated teamwork...they lack height and athleticism (they only have two kids I'd qualify as "athletes" on their team) but they run designated setters, outside hitters with a decoy in the middle, and they are all consistent servers (at least two or three with a good jumping overhand). They are the "death by a thousand mistakes" team...they build up a lead based on your errors and woe betide you if you're sloppy and give up easy points. Their main setter is a skinny blonde kid with a wicked left-handed overhand serve; their best athlete is the coach's kid and is basically a mini Jesus with a jump serve. Watched them demolish another playoff team 25-15 and wasn't even as close as that score looks...just no shot for a "playoff" team trying to get by on size, athleticism, and hard serves. Obviously a good team with good chemistry (a lot of love for each other); really, their only Achilles heel, besides a lack of athletes, is they struggle to dig. But they are as patient as Job, and they will wear you down...quickly...if you're not on your game.

We play St. Anthony's...in Bellevue again...on Saturday. If we win, we play the other semi-final winner in the championship at Blanchet high school, in our neighborhood, on our turf (Diego will be attending BBHS next year...it's five minutes from our home). 

All right. I think all that's out of my system now. Time for a nap.

[post momentarily interrupted by the need to get kids off to school]