I have noticed some older folks playing volleyball on our campus here and have wanted to join them for some time now. They are always playing during my evening run. After a run one day I got up the courage to approach, they were friendly. So, my only day off from something at 7:30 p.m. was Sunday, off I went, as a lightening storm started to approach.
I knew that 1-2 of the women had pretty good skills, I tried to get on one of their teams (I am too competitive, I know, but I wanted to play real volleyball). In the end I was on the men's team, four men and me. One guy had on his slacks rolled into capris with this shirt rolled up to his chest (because of the heat, this is so common around here), another guy was smoking his cigarette while playing (oddly enough this did not surprise me one bit), the other two were quite round in the middle and didn't really know what it meant to hit a volleyball. All of them were probably 45-60 years old but looked a bit older. None of them introduced themselves to me (the women didn't either).
Did I mention it wasn't even a real volleyball? It was as big as a beach ball but fake leather and much lighter than a normal volleyball, I mentioned this to the guys when my serve went way past everyone. They said yes they know, it is lighter, etc. Also worth noting is that the court was short, as was the net. This is my dream, I should school on this court. But alas, my team had never really watched volleyball I suppose, did not know that you were allowed three hits to set up any sort of play, and hit the ball illegally more times than not. One time we hit it four times and no one stopped, seriously. I know, it was all just a fun game, but at least the two girls who knew the game were teaching their team and being patient. My team just used me for my serve (which when tweaked became effective). I just had to laugh at all this. It was an okay time and if I were consistent could help build some friendships, but with only so many free hours in my week I am not sure I will return...we will see. Miss those days playing ball with big sis and Heather G. If they are still playing when you guys come, we will take them all on, what do you say?
