Volleyball

After our ride today we went to McAlesters Deli in Lawrence and the girls from Chattanooga, TN were there in their uniforms. I spoke with a couple of them and asked why they were in lawrence. Duh Dennis, to play volleyball! There is a four team tournament at KU today.

After Barb and I sat down to eat, I mentioned that I played volleyball a lot as a kid. Barb actually had not heard the following two stories. Here goes...

In the 8th grade, there was a Volleyball team from Minneha Junior High that was the select team picked by the coach. No tryouts, just his hand picked kids and yes, they were good but so were a lot of us because we played a lot of volleyball. Well, the team was at their first tournament and instead of staying in the gym like they were told, they snuck out and went to the DQ just up the street. The coach went looking for them and blew his gasket when he found out what they did. He fired that team and the next day picked out what he thought were the next best 8 or 9 players. I got picked for that team and we went to the tournament and won the rest of the games we played. As near as I know, we never lost a game that season or the next year. I loved to play volleyball and would play today if I could find a place that just enjoyed good old goofing around. I dearly love to play volleyball in a hand ball court - Wally Ball is just so much fun you can't believe how fast and fun it is.

Second story. In OCS, there was a flyer put out to ask us to put together a Volleyball team to play at the Post level. There were about 10 of us that answered the call and for three Wednesday nights in a row met and practiced. Then on the next Thursday, we all went to the Main Post gym for the start of the Post Double elimination tournament. We played Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday right into the final game for the post championship. I don't recall ever losing a game as we were pretty damned good. Finally after winning the Championship, it dawned on whoever put the tournament together that we were a bunch of young men about to be commissioned and sent all over the Unites States. Instead of getting to play in the All Army Championship, the number two team was picked to represent Fort Sill. Dang I hate it when that happens. Never did hear how that worked out.

It is funny that of all the stories Barb has listened to over the years, she never had those two told to her. Guess I'd better dust off some of the other tales of the trails I have rode, er ridden.

MUD