Get up, you aren't that old

[joflasher]

So I was correct about volleyball last night. Today, my knee is swollen again and numb down the inside. I think I'm done doing anything but sitting on my butt until my Saturday riding lesson. No vball, no rock climbing, so biking, no riding. Tisa gets a small vacation. It'll be good for me ... until I have to get on her again. Rocket horse is not so good for me.

On the up side, the turnout last night was very limited and almost entirely the better players. We played 4s and it was a blast. The yip-yips didn't have to behave themselves since we didn't have any real beginners there. Our worst players were still solid passers. They got to be on the recieving end of some serious smackdown, though. Nobody was pulling their punches and apparently a lot of the guys were bitter at watching those two swing away while everyone else was playing nice.

I was on a team with Mark and the Boy on either side of me. Mark is ~6'4", in his 50s and has been playing ball since college. He can make a pretty spike out of a shitty set and is better at passing than most guys his size. The Boy is the Boy ... good hands, decent passing, way more diving than necessary.

So good players on either side of me. This meant I was actually getting honest to god sets. Most nights, I get put beside whatever girl can't play defense. I'm not sure why. I think they're hoping passing skills rub off or something. Anyways, most people who can't pass can't set either, so I end up with a bunch of balls at head level. I've spent most of my time there perfecting the chipped roll shot from the collar bone. Last night, though, they were high and pushed out and a ball length from the net and I was able to actually get in an approach with a jump and everything.

I got a little bit carried away. I kept plowing my spikes into the back wall. Somewhere I seemed to have picked up a nice hard swing but lost all the necessary snap to make it useful. The Boy kept looking at me and saying "Swing harder ... it'll fix that problem". Lies.

Now my right shoulder is good and sore to go along with the right knee but oh, it was worth it. I definitely need to find a higher caliber of volleyball soon. It felt good to really open up and play as hard as I could.

Well, it felt good mentally. Physically, not so much.

Comments

[msde.livejournal.com]

Swing harder!

[flasher.livejournal.com]

Up Down!

[blk]

betcha can't hit the back wall! (or porter, or wean)

[flasher.livejournal.com]

Send it through the thorn tree and you have to go get it yourself.

[talldean.livejournal.com]

I wish I could find an intermediate/advanced group here in DC. I've found advanced 2's, which doesn't work, because I'm about two years outta shape. I've found beginner/intermediate groups, but that gets old real f'n quick.

Good luck with the knee; maybe rest it before it becomes permanently worse, or stretch extra before and after and give it some ice and ibprophen afterwards?

And let me know what strategy seems to work to find a higher caliber group? :-)

[flasher.livejournal.com]

We don't have problems finding good play, its finding good pickup play that is the issue. I travel too much to commit to a formal league. Most of the pickup groups are open gym, any skill level welcome, which tend towards beginner/intermediate. We found a decent intermediate grassy twos down in the Charles River Park but that's over for the year.

Most of the stuff we've found has been through the internet. We found out about our town league through a flyer the town mails out ever few months. There's a local mailing list but most of it is for finding players for the formal leagues.

[prusik.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you rock climb, although, in retrospect, I'm not surprised.

I hope your knee recovers soon. It sounds awful.

As to the yip-yips, I'm glad they're starting to realize that actions have consequences. (Apparently, in this case, they're rather painful consequences. It's hard to sympathsize for people who get their jollies out of smacking volleyballs at the defenseless though.)

Hope you find people level-matched with you on a regular basis. It's got to be frustrating not playing with people at the same level as you. (It actually works in both directions as I don't boulder nearly as well as the people I've been bouldering with.)

[flasher.livejournal.com]

I don't do it that much right now. I have better ways of destroying my hands.

Its always a balancing act. You always want to play with people better than you are because it forces you to improve your own performance to keep up. Unfortunately, it can bring down the better players since they aren't stretching themselves as much. Bouldering isn't really a team sport though ... the people you climb with aren't depending on you to be able to finish the route (unless you are belaying them). Worst case with climbing, especially indoors, is that you end up spending extra time tying in as you hop from hard to easy climb.