Vollyballing

Volleyball is a complicated game of simple skills.  It is a game of constant motion. It demands focus and quickness. When the ball flies over the net, the receiver must in the blink of an eye, assess the incoming angle, decide whether to hit the ball back, or pass the ball to a teammate.

I started playing Volleyball with a group of Marin moms about three years ago. Every Thursday for an hour and a half.  I only knew one woman in the group. Her daughter played volleyball with my daughter in middle school.  When I attended their games, I watched jealously from the sidelines.  I wanted to play something fierce.

Volleyball is a rebound sport.  You can’t hold the ball.  You can’t lift the ball. Your team can touch the ball three times on your side of the net.  A team has six players. Three players stand close to the net; the other three play backcourt.

A lot happens in a relatively small amount of space. A volleyball court is 18 m (59 ft.) long and 9 m (29.5 ft.) wide, divided into 9 m × 9 m halves by a one-meter (40-inch) wide net. The top of the net is 2.24 m (7 ft. 4 in) above the center of the court for women's competition.

You can dig the ball (using your forearms to make an underarm pass), set the ball (using your hands to make an overhead pass), and spike the ball (using your hands to make an overhead attacking shot), serve the ball into play, and block the ball at the net. 

I am the oldest and the shortest person on the court, 58 years old, and 5’2”. I dream of what it must feel like to be 6 feet tall at the net, spiking and blocking.  I react fast, struggle to accurately dig, can set the ball decently, and have a very consistent serve.   

The ball is put in play with a service, hit by the server over the net to the opponents. The rally continues until the ball is grounded on the playing court, goes "out" or a team fails to return it properly. The team who wins a rally scores a point. When the receiving team wins a rally, it gets a point and the right to serve, and its players rotate one position clockwise. Each game is played to 25 points.  A team must win by at least 2 points.

The composition of my Volleyball group changes slightly every four months. Many of the women are stay at home moms.  They constantly juggle family commitments. One woman is a grandmother. One woman is a realtor. One woman played for just one session; she was recovering from breast cancer and wore a headscarf.  She grew progressively stronger each week she played. Two years later, the woman the who organizes us, announced that she had died.  Several group members belong to night and weekend leagues.

Volleyball evolved from an indoor game called Mintonette  (a cross between tennis and handball) in the early 1900’s, first played in Holyoke, Massachusetts.  It was designed to be slightly less rough than Basketball, invented just a few years earlier, some ten miles away. In 1919, the American Expeditionary Forces distributed thousands of Spaulding volleyballs to their troops and allies, promoting the growth of Volleyball in other countries.  Nudists were early adopters of the game, organizing play in clubs in the late 1920s.   

We play in our clothes.  Yoga pants, sports capris, t-shirts with slogans for multiple causes and colorful artwork. Many of us wear kneepads; I don’t, because I want to discourage myself from “diving” for the ball and injuring my body.

On the court, communication is critical.  But it is concise. Often just one word; occasionally, two words. “Service. “ (You say this before you serve.) “Got it.” “Mine.” “Help.” “Set it to me.”  “Side out.” Encouragement and praise is also to the point.  “Good one.” “Nice play.” “Wow.” “Good try."

I don’t chat much to my Volleyball friends.  I leave quickly after our sessions because I have to be on a work conference call every Thursday morning.  But curiously, I feel like I know this group of women, and that they know me, from how we play together.  I love my Volleyball community.