Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Volleyball

About a month ago, I was invited to play competitive sand volleyball with a few others at the Calvin courts. I absolutley LOVE volleyball. It's the one form of exercise that doesn't seems like work to me. I can play for hours, relish the "good hurt" the next morning, and still have a smile on my face. But even beyond that I think I have so many great memories associated with playing volleyball. I got my start in 7th and 8th grade, before my athletic ability kicked in. I warmed the bench well. I played a bit on college intermural, including mud volleyball during Drake Relays, but it wasn't until I moved to Wisconsin that I discovered a passion for the game. Most of the sports bars where I lived had indoor/outdoor sand courts. In addition to playing on up to 3 leagues at one point, my circle of friends would often rent a court on a Saturday night. We'd meet around 6:30 and play til midnight. I learned a ton from those friends as they were all far better than me. In between games we'd run drills to practice placing our serves or hits. And it always felt great when, at 5'4", my spikes would go unblocked against some 6' guy.

It's been much too long since those days, but in the last month I've reconnected with some of my first friends in Michigan, and made some new ones. Now that we've been playing a few weeks, it's really getting fun because we can starting playing to (or against) each other's strengths. We're always open to new players, so if you're local and play, come join us! I don't know how long it'll last but in the meantime, I'm loving Tuesday volleyball!

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