sports
The girls won their first game but lost their second: the same story. They were up 22-19 but had several moments of trouble and ended up losing 23-25 in the first set. In the second set, they had a 12-9 lead but lost it, tying at 12, before dropping the second set 20-25.
And thus ended the third and final experience with AAU Nationals in Orlando.
Yesterday there was a team from Texas who, I believe, lost all their games in straight sets. L has been there: she’s been on teams that leave a tournament day without a single win. The Texas team was up 11-8 at one point, but our girls rallied and beat them.
Today, it was more of the same: straight-set victories for the first two games, including a brutal second game with sets that were 25-10 and 25-11. “It’s good to be on this side of that score,” I said to another parent, “but we’ve been on the other side, and I know how that hurts.” It does a real number on your self-confidence, and soon, the bad mistakes (like the ones they were making: hitting serves out and sloppy serve reception) pile on each other. They reach a point that essentially, the team is just as much beating themselves as being beaten. Again, we’ve been there, too.
The final game was a bit of a different story. In the first set, the girls were quickly down 2-7, but the pulled it together and ended up taking the set 25-19. The second set started out much the same, but once again, they were able to pull back and then take the set 25-21
Today was Pink Out day, when all teams wear pink uniforms and I guess thinking at least in passing about the fact that women (and a few men) die of breast cancer every year. “Believe there is hope for a cure,” one shirt reads. It has a certain religious ring to it, but it’s antithetical to the whole enterprise of looking for a cure. While it is science and not faith, belief, or hope that will cure cancer, I understand the implied optimism in the shirt, certainly a critical element for anyone fighting cancer. One of the players I noticed yesterday is clearly just after chemo. A strong female outside hitter without a single hair anywhere on hear head, she stood out in more ways than one. Perhaps the pink encourages her. Hopefully.
As for today's pictures, I focused on the setters, which I don't think I've ever done. In a lot of ways, their the brains of the whole team: they read the defense, make quick adjustments, and then decide which hitter to set based on perceived weaknesses in the opponents' defense. Their sort of like the steering wheel of the team, or the neck. "Brain" seems to take something away from the other players.
In truth, all the players are completely critical. If you don't have good defensive specialists, you won't get a good pass to your setter. If you don't get a good pass to your setter, or if your setter is not on her game, you won't get your hitters in good position to attack. If the hitters are attacking, you won't be scoring (except from opponents' errors and blocking, and the occasional well-placed lob to the empty back corner from the setter or a DS).
As for the evening, it was games, games, games:
The girls won all three of their games in straight sets by convincing margins. They often start like that; fingers crossed they continue like that.
Afterward, sushi
The Girl came home with three medals this weekend: two for track and a third for the volleyball tournament, which they won for their age group.
"I think I've gotten more medals this year than all other years combined," the Girl said as we walked to the car.
It's good to see your kid meeting with such success. Losing builds character, that's a certainty.
But every now and then, it's good to just see them dominate.
It became apparent from the start that this was our first summer meet.
“These folks came prepared to camp out here all day,” I texted K.
In the end, it was a fairly successful day: second in high jump and second in jav.
Today was the final day of our short spring tournament. They boys played their hearts out, and they had a good time -- the results (0-1-2) weren't as important.
It was a bittersweet afternoon, though: it will be the last season this team is together. There are always some new members each season, but this team has had a little core for the last three seasons, and now it's all over. Several of the boys (E included) will be too old to play on the fall team, and the coach won't be working with U12s anymore: he's moving up to the 18s travel team.
Coach M was a great coach, the only coach the Boy really wanted to play for, and we're going to miss him.
In the evening, we went on our first ride of the season.
Except for L: she doesn't like cycling, which is a shame.
