Sports Weekend ... Continues

Our championship weekend turned out to be less hectic, but also less triumphant, than it might have been. My volleyball coaching debut offered me great hope for the future: it can only get better. Missing more than half our team, we cobbled together a squad with a few girls from another squad. All of them were reasonably good players, but they did not play team volleyball the way we did, which quickly pushed us into some bad habits. We beat Hawaii in the first game, but they took the next two. We had to stay in the stifling gym for a second game, this time with our own players but still missing two of our best. We went down to a quick defeat in two games to Pepperdine, a team that had trouble serving the ball over the net. We simply stopped playing our team game. Kelly acquitted herself well, being the only one of our girls who served overhand.

Logistically, losing both games on Saturday simplified Sunday dramatically, because he no longer had to run across town in the middle of swimming time trials and before the baseball party. Kelly was as down about losing as she ever has been about losing a sporting event, though. It was frustrating to think that we were unable to put our best team on the floor, and that if we had, we probably would have won the first game and played for the championship. Still, it was a great season, and Kelly now enjoys the sport so much that she is enrolled in a volleyball camp at St. Mary’s later in the summer.

After volleyball, we dashed back across town to catch the beginning of Michael’s championship baseball game. It had all the trappings of a big game: player introductions and the national anthem. It may only have been eight and nine year old boys playing on a small, imperfect field, but the pageantry gave me goosebumps anyway.

Lining up for introductions:


“And the rockets’ red glare …”


It was a tight game, but the Orioles hit well, we did not field particularly well, and we gave up the lead in the fifth inning (of six) that we could not recover. Because the tournament is double-elimination and we had not yet lost, we get our rematch tonight. It will be a true championship game: the winner gets the trophy, guaranteed.

On Sunday, swimming madness began again. It was far, far more relaxing this year for both Michael and I (although not so much for Cheryl, who has snack shack duties this year). Michael had a good warmup, and set personal bests in freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke, all by wide margins. Simply being a year older has made a huge difference. Once he adds a few weeks of conditioning (which he has missed because of baseball practices), it seems inevitable that he will snag a “bronze” time or two. He is still not one of the fast swimmers, but fortunately he is self-motivated to compete against the clock for intermediate goals other than winning the meet.

On the blocks for freestyle:


Stylin’ in free:


Ready for backstroke:


On his way to a heat win in back:


After time trials, we went to the baseball coach’s house for a raucous party for the baseball team, with a barbeque, cake and awards for the boys. We love baseball, but it will be a bit of a relief to spend the summer with the fundamentally individual (less stressful) sport of swimming. Tonight will tell us if we go into the summer with a finalist’s medal, or a champion’s trophy.