Easter 2021
volleyball
Regionals 2021 Day 2
The Girl’s team today had a rough time of it. During their first game, they were up one set 11-4, but they just couldn’t put it away. In the second game, they were up 24-19 and ended up losing it 26-28. That means they had four set points and couldn’t convert. That frustrated L to no end. They won the final game in straight sets, but it was by far the weakest team we’d seen in a long time. Still, a win is a win.
In the break between game one and two, I walked down the street to see where Papa’s parents used to live. I know Papa lived in a couple of houses in the area growing up, but the only house I have any connection to — any memory of — is the small now-yellow house on Izard Street.
Down the street stands an abandoned building that I seem to remember as a store that my cousins and I used to visit to buy a Three Muskateers candy bar and a Mountain Dew.
Visiting Coach
The girls went to watch their coach’s other team play — a college men’s team.
“They jump so high!” was the common comment. “And the net is higher!”
At one point, they were discussing the other team with coach M. “I liked number 10,” one girl said.
“Really?” coach asked incredulously. “He was terrible.”
“I’m talking about looks, coach,” she clarified.
“I was not part of the conversation,” the Girl clarified when I related it to K.
(I also didn’t take the pictures…)
Games
The Boy had two soccer games today. His team won them both, but the second game was a real bruiser. The kids on the other team were much more aggressive than any other kids we’ve encountered. Fouls don’t occur in eight-year-old soccer, but these kids fouled. They pushed and shoved, getting very physical in almost all aspects of the game. Still, our boys managed to pull out a 3-1 win.
E didn’t play for most of the game, though. He went in for about the last three minutes of the second half. My understanding was that the coach let the bench decide: leave the kids in who were doing well or get subbed in. They decided to let the kids who were already doing so well continue doing so.
The Girl is with K outside of Atlanta for a volleyball tournament. Their team won the first two matches they played but lost the final match. They took one set, though, so that’s always some little bit of compensation.
Finally, the Boy played a little guitar tonight. He’s decided it’s time to get serious about his playing, so I printed him out a simple chord chart, and off we went.
Knoxville Day 2
Knoxville Day 1
Savannah 2021
Southern Classic, Day 2
At their age and ability level, the Girl and her teammates can go from one extreme to another. For example, they can lose the first set 25-16 and then turn around and win the next set 25-16.
They can make a brilliant play and follow it up by letting the ball flop slowly and gently in between three players as they all look at it, each on expecting someone else to get it, each one making a move for it and then backing off, each one remaining perfectly silent.
The Girl can hit serves that float over the net gently and then power rockets over the net. Then she can miss her timing and the serve doesn’t even make it to the net.
Today, they got third place in the silver division. That means, roughly, they finished seventh place overall, I think.
Not horrible but not what they wanted. Still, they were all in a good mood at the end of the tournament, which is what counts.
Dalton 2021 Day 2
Dalton 2021 Day 1
It’s a different tournament this year. There are fewer courts this year: five instead of eight. This means fewer teams in the building, so fewer players, fewer parents — reduced risk, in short.
They won their first two games in straight sets. They didn’t have much problem with either team.
As often happens, though, the third team was a different story. Our girls (and single boy — long story) lost the first set something like 25-22. Not a devastating loss, but a loss nonetheless.
They started the second set strong and before we knew it, our team was up 19-12. “Surely this is a done deal.” Nope. They ended up losing 26-24, which means in the second half of the game, they were consistently outscored 2-1.
It’s a question of experience, of gelling together as a team. It’s only their second tournament, and many of the points they lost were from silly, unforced errors. They’ll weed those out with time, with some experience.
And the Boy got his soccer uniform for the spring season.
First Tournament 2021
The girls won the first four, lost the last.
A good start. They’re not too humbled and yet their egos got a little check.
Meter
Today we finished up a quick day-and-a-half overview of meter after spending about a week on Shakespearean sonnets. I wanted kids really to understand the level of Shakespeare’s achievement, how much he wrote in iambic pentameter.
“Remember, kiddos,” I said, “he was not only choosing words based on the ideas he wanted to express; he was also having to take into account their length and rhythm.”
In the evening, during L’s club volleyball signing and uniform fitting, I ran into two of my students who are playing on L’s team. They’re having a test tomorrow on sonnets but not on meter. It’s not in the standards in any sense, so I couldn’t justify testing them on it, and I could just barely justify to myself spending almost two days on it. It’s just on interpreting, on picking up on some of the rudimentary differences between modern and Elizabethan English. I reminded one of the girls to keep preparing for the test.
“We were going over it in the car,” said her father.
All Saints’ Day 2020
We got a late start today, even with the time change. We weren’t home until so incredibly late that even K slept in a little
In the early afternoon, we went to Nana’s grave to clean a little and try to set some new candles. Of course, we didn’t have the proper candles that are ubiquitous in Polish florist shops this time of year, except for this year. The cemeteries were closed for three days, including today, in order to minimize the spread of the virus.
Which led to the circulation of an amusing joke: “For everyone planning on jumping the fence to the cemetery for All Saints’ Day, please remember that the hours of six to eight are reserved for seniors.” Translated as best as I can recall the original.
We had our own adventures at the site, though: we’d planned on giving the marker a good scrubbing, but then left all the supplies at the house. Sounds about right.
In the afternoon, a family meeting to help L make a big decision: she got accepted into two volleyball clubs, and in each of them, she’s being recruited into the highest-level teams. She tried out for Carolina One again this year, and she’s leaning away from their offer for a number of reasons. One of them: they didn’t choose her last year.
“Typical thirteen-year-old logic,” K and I laughed, acknowledging, though, that it’s ultimately her choice.
Covid-willing that is. There’s a high chance, I think, that everything will be canceled before it starts, with rising numbers everywhere but especially here in Greenville. The teams all have very strict covid protocols in place, but things might reach a point that even that is impossible or impractically dangerous.
Tryouts
Today was the first of three days of tryouts for club teams. L will be trying out for two clubs: Excell Sports, where she played last year, and Carolina One, which gave her the cold shoulder last year.
Today was day one at Excell.
Her coach from last year was there. “L’s really improved,” he said.
The owner and head coach of Excell, Shane, talked to L and me after tryouts.
“Everyone was impressed with your hitting,” he said. “Last year, you were a baby giraffe: you had these long arms and legs and didn’t know what to do with them. You know what to do with them now.”
Perfection
The girls pulled it off: a perfect season. They lost not a single set. And L had the championship-winning kill tonight.
Close Call
The Girl’s volleyball team finished the regular season with a perfect record. Beyond perfect — not only did they win every match but the won them all in straight sets. Which is to say they lost not a single set. And most sets they won convincingly. Brutally.
Today was the semifinals of the year-end tournament.
Before the game, there was a special short recognition of the eighth-grade girls who would be leaving. “As you can see,” said the coach, “they’re the majority of the team.” Next year will likely not see as many in the win column as this year. But it’s still this year.
The girls made it straight to the semifinals due to their record, and they faced St. Mary’s today. They won convincingly earlier this year in the regular season. And the first set today they won easily: 25-9. That’s not just an easy win. That’s a brutal beat-down. But the St. Mary’s girls never let it get to them. They were enthusiastic and hard-working the entire set as the lead mounted and become the monster that it was.
In the second set, the Langston girls started getting sloppy, making some silly errors. Before we knew it, they were down by four, almost all the points coming from their own unforced errors. Still, I don’t want to take anything away from the St. Mary’s team: they were playing much better in the second set. Our girls cut the lead to one and then started slipping again. Cut the lead and then started slipping again. And then the unthinkable: set point.
Yet the girls rallied and kept their perfect record just that.
It would have been a great surprise for the St. Mary’s girls to bump the big dogs off their perch (I just intentionally mixed those metaphors so thoroughly that you could serve them to James Bond).
“Did you hear? The Langston girls finally got taken down!”
“Really? By whom?”
But it was not meant to be, I suppose.
One more game — the championship on Friday afternoon against Shannon Forest again. They almost took a set from the girls a couple of weeks ago, and in the 2019/2020 season, they took a set from the Langston girls each of the two matches they played. Including the championship.
In the evening, after dinner, the Boy and I worked on his scout project. We measured and cut all the boards, ready for assembly tomorrow.
Back to Normal
Versus Shannon Forest
The girls knew from the start of the season that today’s match would be the biggest challenge. They faced Shannon Forest in the regular season and in the championship last year, and while they won both matches, they went to three sets, and each match was a real battle.
Today, when I arrived, I glanced at the scoreboard and saw our girls were down 15-10. Other than a few moments at the beginning of this or that set, it’s about the only time they’ve been behind, and certainly the only time they’d been that far behind that far into the game. They would pull back within two points or so and then lose another two points.
I didn’t think their undefeated streak would win — I thought they’d win the final two sets if they lost the first one. They just weren’t playing 100%. And to their credit, their opponents were making phenomenal saves. They didn’t have as many heavy hitters as we do, but they took most of the serves and many of the hits and converted them. Still, I thought the girls’ perfect season (and by that, I mean not a single set lost) might end this afternoon. In the end, though, they came back to win it 25-22.
The second set started off with our girls jumping into an early, big lead of 7-1. With a lead like that, which they maintained for most of the game (at one point it was 20-12), I thought it was a done deal. The girls of Shannon Forest had other plans, though. One thing everyone has to give those SF girls is that they never give up. Down eight points, with our girls lacking only 5 points to victory while they had to double their score and then some, they still fought for every ball. And they started clawing back. And soon it was 21-17. And I thought, “They might do to our girls what our girls just did to them.” But it seemed impossible: our girls are good. They can take the hits, pop them up to the setter, who sets up one of three frontline hitters, who can then almost always hit well and often hit with incredible power and speed.
With every point, the home team scored, the home crowd erupted. The SF girls danced and screamed with each point as they pulled it back to 23-22. I could understand their joy: the Langston girls were the big dogs, so to speak. They’d rolled through the season last year and took the championship. They were doing the same this year. To take them down, to take one set — I’ve been in that position. Not in sports but in academic bowl competitions. In the final match of the year, our team took down an until-then undefeated team.
Just one point down.
But it was not to be. They made a couple of errors, and we had a good hit or two, and it was all over. Our perfect season is still perfect, with one more match tomorrow night.
In the championship tournament, though, Shannon Forest will likely meet our girls again. And they will remember how they began that first set. And they will be out for revenge.
Learning
“Hey, there’s a grass volleyball tournament in town this weekend. Want to go play?” L asked.
“Sure,” her best friend N replied.
That’s how it started. So two good friends who both have a couple years’ experience playing volleyball but no experience playing two-girl volleyball — no experience at all, not just no experience playing together in pairs volleyball — set out this morning to see how they’d do.
It was a learning experience, to say the least.
Not only did they not win a single set, their total points scored for six sets (54) didn’t even average out to 10 points per game. To say they got their butts kicked is really quite an understatement.
It’s not something she’s used to in volleyball. Last year, her school’s team won every single match and only dropped three or four sets the entire season. This year, with only two matches remaining, they haven’t lost a single set. They are used to delivering the smackdown, not receiving it.
But it wasn’t always like that either for the Girl. When she first started playing volleyball, she tried out for the school team in sixth grade and didn’t make the cut. We put her in YMCA volleyball and her team didn’t do well at all.
As a parent watching my daughter play volleyball, I always have some mixed emotions. During the last season, her team struggled mightily: they didn’t win a single match, if memory serves, and they only won a handful of sets. It was rough. Lots of frustration in the car after games.
“We won’t ever win.”
Several matches, they were swept, three sets to nothing. There was nothing immediately redeemable about that. I said what any parent would say: “You’re getting stronger.” “This is building character.” “This shows how tough you are, that you keep at it despite the challenges.” (Source)
Still, even then they weren’t getting beaten brutally.
Today, they were. Completely outclassed. Completely and mercilessly beaten by girls who had much more experience than they do.
Point after point, set after set, game after game, they kept playing. They lost by scores like 21-7 and kept playing. They made silly mistakes and went for several points without actually earning a point but gaining points only from unforced errors and still, they kept playing.
I’m not sure when I was prouder of L.
As the morning progressed, they improved. They figured out some of the little strategic differences that pairs volleyball demands. They worked together more. Their game became a little more analytic. They grew.
What’s more, when we asked the girls if they’d enjoyed it, they insisted they’d had fun. And I believe them. So a successful lesson on many levels.
Volleyball Tuesday
The girls had another game today. It was the same as previous games: complete slaughter. At one point, the girls were up in the first set something like 18-3. The coach, being an individual of character, always starts pulling out his big hitters when it’s obvious where the game is going, but at the same time, he wants to give them court time. (Still, when the poor opponents can’t even return an underhand serve after the coach pulled our best server while she was serving, what’s the quality of play they get?)
This was a private school, the private school in the area. Eighth-grade tuition is $21,510. The team in Spartanburg we beat mercilessly was also from a private school, but its tuition was only something like $17k a year. For whatever reason, one would think they would have better teams. And they probably do: it turns out that in most of these private schools that also include a high school, the eighth graders get shuttled up to the high school JV or even varsity team, so our girls are playing sixth and seventh graders.
Today was only a scrimmage game, though. It doesn’t count toward anyone’s record. Still, if it was only a scrimmage, why couldn’t we scrimmage with the JV or even varsity team?
