Last modified on 02-17-2007.
Adults: 2002 USAV Nationals -- From Our Teams' Perspective
The following articles were submitted by various GEVA teams that participated at the 2002 Open National Volleyball Championships in Dallas, TX.
Last updated - 28 July 2003
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I started playing volleyball in my freshman year of high school; I was brand new to the sport, but loved it immediately. After my first high school season my love for the game drove me to playing club ball. Both my coaches and my parents thought continuing with the sport in the off season the right decision. During my club season my team clicked right away and we had the confidence and talent that led us to Regionals. Once we got that far, we wouldn't give up. In the final game our determination to win helped us when our setter got hurt and we had to continue playing on without her; but most of all, we had to believe we could win. We made a comeback and defeated the opposing team to win the title of Regional Champions. The idea of going to Nationals seemed unreal to me. The next step was to work extra hard to train for the big trip.
Once my team arrived in Salt Lake City we still couldn't believe it was all happening. It was our first time going to Nationals for all of us; we were excited but nervous at the same time. The one thing that really impressed me was the extreme level of talent that all of the teams there at Nationals showed. This competition was much more intense than we had ever encountered. The competition both inspired me yet intimidated me at the same time. My team fought hopelessly and was defeated time and time again, but we finally got the feel for the extreme level of play from all around the country, especially the West Coast.
When we weren't competing with other teams inside the Expo Center, my team and I were out exploring the sights of Salt Lake City. We traveled out into the city to see the famous Morman churches and famous buildings. We spent half a day just shopping in all the great stores around the area. Another day we ventured up into the mountains of Utah and viewed the incredible, breath-taking scenery surrounding us. We took the tram up the side of the enormous mountain and could see for miles what Utah was really about. The next day we discovered what fun a place Utah could be when we took a trip to Park City. The little city was filled with cute shops to entertain us all day long. Also in Park City was the mile-long slide that my whole team enjoyed riding. The sightseeing adds another great part to the exciting trip to Nationals.
I think that my entire team bonded on the trip to Nationals, it was an amazing experience I'll be sure never to forget. This trip has taught me things that will remain with me forever, like the friends I made along the way. Through just one year of playing together, we accomplished an awesome journey. My team didn't get to Nationals with luck, we got there with skill, talent, belief, determination, and of course hard work. A quote from Denis Waitley says "If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you won't you most assuredly won't. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad."
At the beginning of our season “SALT”, the expression we have cheered for the past 6 months, was merely a goal. It was a goal, which represented hard work, determination, and teamwork. “SALT” meant our goal was to reach Nationals. On April 27th the 17-1’s played in the GEVA Regionals in what must have been the game of our season. That day our efforts and hard work paid off because what was once just a goal became a dream come true.
On June 29th we packed our bags and headed west for the U.S.A Volleyball Junior Olympics. We arrived to the beautiful Wasatch Mountains, the Great Salt Lake, and Coach Hall’s smiling face. We were in for an incredible week of volleyball, sightseeing, and fun. Our team rode up 11,000 feet to the peak of a mountain, glided down an alpine slide, watched the U.S.A women’s national team play Italy, and played some awesome volleyball.
The girls at Nationals were the best of the best. As our coach told us on day one, there were no bad players, let alone bad teams. If we wanted to win we had to fight for every match, not just every game, but every point. The competition was unlike anything I had ever been exposed to, and that by itself was part of what made the trip so unforgettable. But there was much more to remember: the scenery of the mountains and all of the memories we made will stay with me forever. I hope next year is going to be this fun, and I hope we make it to Nationals again. I really do believe in these girls, and we can prove that if you really want something and you put your mind to it, anything is possible.
Though we cannot say we saw great success in the standings at Nationals, and though many people may not be able to realize our success, we knew that we had accomplished a lot. Just being at Nationals was a great success for the team, and since getting there had been our main goal throughout the season, by recognizing that we reached this goal, our team found very little reason to be disappointed in Utah. We played some of our best games ever while we were there. We even rose up to the challenge and defeated a team from Virginia Beach who had taken us out of play-offs at the Early Bird Extravaganza back in January. This match alone showed how much we had improved as a team and had moved our game forward.
I’m confident in saying that every girl came to Utah with the intention of playing the best ball they’re capable of. Regardless of how well individuals may have played, when stats and records are put aside, it comes down to heart. In my opinion, heart is one thing our team never lacked. We were able to rise to any occasion and compete with every single team we were up against. But most importantly, at the end of the day, we were able to leave it all on the court. Not once did a teammate of mine point a finger, or scold anyone on or off the court, and that’s what it’s all about. We came together, not just as a team, but as friends. Coming to Nationals, reaching our goal and playing with the best girls in America inspired me not only as a player, but as a person as well. It was undoubtedly an experience that taught me more than I had ever dreamed, and unlike one I’m bound to ever stumble across again.
We did bring back a lot of wonderful gifts from our experience in Salt Lake: our memories, our thousands of pictures, tons of laughs, many great volleyball highlights, and of course lots of aches and pains. And most importantly, the one thing that every one of the girls brought back was a smile on their face. We were all just happy to have had the opportunity and the experience of being in Salt Lake City at Nationals. Yeah “SALT!!!”
Dressed in our “penguin” best and armed only with volleyballs, the Powerzone Bad Penguins women’s BB volleyball team arrived in Dallas, Texas. With goals of victory and fun, fun eventually won out over our court victories.
As far as the volleyball was concerned, we played well as a team, and knocked off some large, hard hitters. We tied for 3rd place in pool play, but got bumped to bronze because of tiebreak procedures. One of our biggest highlights was loosing a close 3 game match to the eventual 2nd place gold bracket team, and giving them their only pool game lose. We were eventually eliminated from play on Friday evening, after a win over our club teammates, Limelight BB, and two tough loses. Having to overcome an “elephant” knee, bad sinuses, a groin lump, a bad pimple, and the fact that we were not half the size of the other teams (wow, BB has grown!), we played well as a team, and should be proud of our efforts.
Our team also enjoyed the social aspects of nationals. Comraderery between teams extended from the courts to the hotel, and all the way down to Dallas Alley. The Hyatt Hotel, I am sure was happy to see us go. It could have been the shaving cream, the feathers, the Convention Center sign in a player’s bed, the “roach note” or maybe it was even the “shower table”. Downtown we met Bubba Gump, had a “regional” dinner at a steak restaurant and had a good night at a Nice Day Café (be aware, there are pictures).
Even though our play did not rank us at the top, our memories and enjoyment of Dallas are definitely number one. The most important things were playing well as a team and taking in the whole nationals experience. By the way Marty, how many legs did that table have?
Nationals started the way most tournaments start for the Flying Fish, in the bar. 9am Monday morning at the Friday’s bar inside the airport. Our flight didn’t leave until noon so we had some beer.....err.....time to kill. Just what you would expect from a team named after a brewing company. The team was looking forward to National’s, the drinking, the volleyball, the women, the drinking and the competition. We were feeling pretty good about ourselves after winning Regional’s and sat at the bar drinking and talking smack. When we arrived in Dallas it was raining and there was no shuttle to our hotel. In retrospect, they may have been ominous signs, but we were having too much fun laughing at Dan “blumpy” Mullen. Apparently Dan had taken aboard the plane, 2 Gatorade bottles filled with gin and a splash of tonic. Of course he finished them both and was cracking jokes in a very slurred and loud voice as we made our way through the airport and to the taxi. He was the newest and youngest player on the team and we all agreed that he was a good pickup. Anyone who could drink like that belonged on the Fish. After having a couple of expensive beers at the hotel bar we tried to find our way to the convention center to check in and watch some games.
We had no clue where we were going and proceeded to walk on the railroad tracks and through a construction zone climbing fences and getting muddy and wet in the rain. Never, ever follow Kathy Kimm anywhere. About 45 minutes later we found the tournament and learned our hotel was only 1 train stop, about 3 minutes, away. Probably another sign things were not going to go as we planned. That night, after 2 of us got tickets for drinking in public and all of us almost getting thrown out of the hotel for being too loud and obnoxious, we passed out with notions of winning the Gold bracket. On Wednesday we had the first of our 4 matches at 8 in the morning. We were a little rusty and our setter looked and set like he had never touched a volleyball before in his life. Luckily the other team was intimidated by our alcoholic morning breath and decided to let us win and get far, far away from them. Our next match was late morning, so we each went and napped or watched the women play and tried to shake off the horrible first match. During the first game of the second match our big right side hitter got his ankle taken out when their hitter came under the net. Donnie “kankle” West was done for the tournament. This threw us all out of whack and we just couldn’t pull it back together. We lost the lead, the game and eventually the match. Don went to the trainers and they massaged and taped his ankle up so he could hobble around. Our next match was a fairly easy one and we won, even though our chemistry was still screwed up. Our last match was against a strong team and although it went to three games, we got our cockiness knocked out of us along with kankle. So what is a team to do but go out and get drunk. Even though we had an 8am start the next day we were determined to have a good time. After getting wasted in the hotel room we went to Dick’s to eat. This is a place where the staff is supposed to treat the customer like crap and generally act like Dick’s.....crew. Personally I don’t remember much except dancing with Louie and telling the waitress she was fat.
But, apparently, there was some trick with a condom and whip cream and some sugar packets and a large crack. I think blumpy could tell you more about that. Louie was taken back to the hotel where he passed out in a room and half of the team went to another small bar. While there, we met a couple of women, a guy with half a hand and some morons jabbing each other in the throat for fun. We drank, smoked cigars, drank, switched shirts, talked to women and drank. At around 3:30 or 4:00 when we got back to the hotel we found Louie curled up in the hall against a wall outside the elevators. To this day he has no recollection of how he got there. What seemed like 5 minutes after laughing ourselves to sleep, the alarm goes off. Oh yeah, volleyball. Damn. Our first match on Thursday was an interesting one. Most of us were seeing more than one ball and we lost to a team that no one should lose to. We sucked! We pulled it together to win our later match, but we were stuck down in the bronze bracket of the playoffs. Oh well, let’s drink! That night’s festivities were a little more subdued as we split up into smaller groups and did our own things. Of course that doesn’t mean we didn’t drink! A couple of us got to know the hotel bartender and were getting every other drink on the house. Some of us, after getting home from the clubs wound up doing “tumbersaults” down the hotel hallway and redecorated the elevator with chairs, pictures and plants. It looked like a nice office when it was done. Very chic. Friday, thank God, we only had one match and if we won we made it to the quaterfinals on Saturday. Donnie kankle made a valiant effort to come back and help the team. He has my total respect for playing on that ankle, it was the size of an extra large grapefruit. Honestly, I don’t remember much about that match but apparently we won. Ahh, time to nap. Friday we again split up and a few of us found a part of town where the locals hang out and party. We made our way up to the roof to dance and drink and try our luck with the local women. No one night stands came out of it but a few friends were made. Back to the hotel and to sleep for more than 3 hours. We had a 10:30 match finally. Those 8am games wiped me out.
Saturday morning we were feeling a little better with a couple of extra hours of sleep and we played a decent match. The opposing team was pretty good and made less errors than we did. We lost in three and had to ref. We found out later that the team that we were beating before they took out Don, was the team that won the Gold. Oh well, there is always next year.
Congratulations to all the region’s participants at Dallas. This year’s trip to Nationals proved rewarding in many ways even though we didn’t come home with “jewelry”. We finished 2nd in pool play allowing us to participate in the quest for “gold”. Unfortunately we lost the first round pushing us into the silver bracket where we again succumbed to a stronger team. Included in the rewards mentioned above, was the addition of two “young” players to our team. Their skills, talent, enthusiasm and spirit were a welcomed extra on our team. Another reward was the lack of injuries. Even though we had an injury scare in our last match, everything turned out fine in the end and we all went home healthy. We were bruised, tired and sore, but healthy.
On a personal note, this year’s National tournament was the culmination of an extremely traumatic year. As some of you may know, I have been a NYC cop for eighteen years. I work in downtown Manhattan and the events of this past year affected me in way that I could never explain. What I can explain however is how my teammates, who I regard as an extension of my family, helped me through this difficult time. It started with a phone call to my sister and ended with food prepared, cookies baked, apartment cleaned, laundry done, endless phone calls, prayers and emails of encouragement, cards and notes of thoughtful words, shoulders to cry on, balls to pound, ears to pierce, planes to board and a tremendous outpouring of love and friendship. I want to take this forum to publicly thank each and every one of my “teammates” for their compassion, understanding and friendship during this arduous time. For most teams, it’s play, win or lose and go home. For my team it has always been about friendship. And I will hold that friendship in my heart long after volleyball is over.
Atlantic 17's (Junior Girls 17's)
Bad Penguins (Women's BB)
Flying Fish (Men's BB)
The Debacle In Dallas
Got Gym (Women's A)
submitted by, Joanne Riggs