February 12th, 2016 | Uncategorized
At Ehoops, kids get the chance to play their favorite sports that they normally enjoy playing. But they also try out different sports that they might not otherwise get the chance to play. Last week, we put it to the Short Strand girls for which new sport that wanted to try. The scholars were pumped when someone suggested volleyball.
My skills accumulated from past beach volleyball battles, middle school gym class a dozen years ago, and having had volleyball players for roommates qualified me to teach some of the basics of playing. Jon, James and I taught them how to pass, bump, set and serve. When it came to underhand serving, the girls’ community leader Lance explained to me that the technique was just like a pass in Gaelic football, a popular Irish sport. The girls picked up the familiar method right away and were serving in no time.
After mastering the basics, it was time to play. We had a huge group game that came down to the wire. It was all tied up and game point was at stake- the scene was set for crunch-time, end-of-game heroics.
The other team quietly snuck off a serve to try and catch us off guard and ace us for the win. Well, they definitely caught ME off guard. Unsuspectingly, the towering serve nailed me right in the forehead. What would have been a perfect header in soccer sailed back over the net and hit the ground for the win. Once I got over the shock of what just happened, I celebrated like we won the All-Ireland final! If only we had it on film to send to SportsCenter Top 10.
The girls really enjoyed trying volleyball. And the end, it wasn’t about perfecting the technical skills of playing. Maybe they’ll forget the specifics of bumping and setting. But all of us probably won’t forget that hilarious last point anytime soon. Ally called my epic point the point of the night. And he was right, for having fun while trying out a new sport was really the ultimate ‘point of the night.’
