Last modified on 09-03-2009.
Adults: 2009 USAV Nationals -- From Our Teams' Perspective
The following articles were submitted by various GEVA teams that participated at the 2009 Open National Volleyball Championships in Minneapolis, MN.Results for the Championships are available at http://volleyball.teamusa.org/event/event/574?page_id=2490.
Minneapolis, home of the Vikings (Brett Favre? Really ???), the Twins, the Timberwolves, the Lakers (really, they originated there), Prince, Mall of America, the Skyway, Scotch Tape, Wheaties (breakfast of champions), the bundt pan, Mary, Rhoda, Mr. Grant and the entire WJM news team, and, of course, the 2009 USA VB Championships. Ya you betcha!
We started our quest to attend nationals with a quick survey to see who would be available. Survey says…1 outside, 1 middle, 1 opposite, and 1 setter returning from knee surgery who could play only back row, maybe. Only 3 ½ players, it was not looking good.
As time passed a few more players jumped on board, but still we were missing a key element – the SETTER (can’t play without your QB1). At the eleventh hour, our newest teammate and setter was able to make the trip (Go Rachel!). We picked up a few Evil Penguins from our club team (muchas gracias chicas), and finally, were on our way. Well…after booking our flights, organizing roommates, deciding on uniforms and getting enough in the right colors and sizes (thanks to Lynn, Kathy & Penny), processing paper work, etc…Let’s just say, this year it wasn’t easy!
Once we arrived in Minneapolis though, everything seemed to fall into place. Our hotel and just about everything else we needed was conveniently located and we had good folks taking care of us in Todd aka hotel shuttle ‘chauffer’ and Angela aka concierge extraordinaire.
We were excited to play the next day, just one more teammate due in later that night and we would all set. Wrong…flight delayed, night spent in Chicago, and 1st match missed. Luckily, we came with enough players!
As we entered the Convention Center with nervous anticipation, there was also a sense of comfort, familiarity and camaraderie as we ran into friends from our region as well as from nationals past. The National anthem played evoking a sense of pride and reminding us of our common threads, then with the flip of coin, it is game-on and friends become foes as we head into battle.
Though it took some time to get to there, we were ready thanks to Chuck and Michael who assisted with pre-nationals practices, ran us through drills and scrimmages, and provided both coaching and moral support once we hit the sport court. And, we can’t forget the remaining Chipotle girls and Evil Penguins who showed up each week after the regular season ended to help us prepare and scrimmage. Or Noah, our number one fan, who made the trip with us once again this year. Your support is much appreciated!
Overall, there were fewer teams attending this year, so there were no late night matches with the usual scramble afterwards to find an open restaurant for dinner. However, there was still plenty of competition and lots of fun both on and off the court.
It was a welcome change to have some free time to get out and explore the city and luckily we had the best social coordinator, Evil Penguin Penny aka Julie, to help us make the most of it!
We had excellent meals and celebrated “Julie’s” birthday every night along with the boys from More Cowbell and our other GEVA friends – Table for 25 please! Our favorites included Hell’s Kitchen, Buco di Beppo, and Brit’s pub – Did anyone else gain weight on this trip?
There were visits to the aquarium, trips to the Mall of America, rollercoaster rides, and Tequila shots with some Jackass (yes, they were there too) and our friend ‘Patron.” (Thanks Suzanne). Finally, what trip to Minneapolis would be complete without a picture at the statue of Mary Tyler Moore?
We managed to do all this, play some great volleyball, cheer on our fellow GEVA teams in some very exciting matches, and make some new friends too. We made it after all!
Playing volleyball in a national tournament is amazing for someone who breathes, thinks sleeps and loves to play volleyball. The National Tournament is an experience that is definitely worth the trip. This Creole team consisted of shadow Holden, Donovan Buckle, Kevin Colucci, David Jakolska, Pablo Oliveira, Kenny Rienecker, Zacarias Ripoll, Erwin Villaorduna, Matt Soderstrom, Eryk Kowalski and Wilson Tran
We went into our first day very confident. Based on the personal and the leadership we knew we had our destiny in our hands. We did not have the results we wanted, but the only way to strive for excellence is through adversities. We went back to the hotel to rest for up for Sunday. We had a team meeting and decided to find a way to turn the tables the next day. We rallied the troops and gave it one more effort and but we fell short of the goal.
We are looking forward to next year to try and try to take the title. We want to thank all the players who made this possible for us to be able to compete in this event. Hope to see you all next year.
One thing we have learned through the last few years as participants in the open is that despite all adversities, if we play together we can overcome any obstacles. Individually we know we have talented players, but in the open you also need the bodies to rest players all throughout. We did not accomplish our goal but we made the gold bracket despite a very bleak start. We are looking forward to next year. We want to thank all the players who made this possible for us to be able to compete in this event. Hope to see you all next year. The National Tournament is an experience that is definitely worth the trip.
Despite a rocky start and a couple heart breaking losses on the first day, we managed to pull out a key victory during the second day of pool play to earn a chance to play for the silver bracket. Our playoff match was definitely the highlight of the tournament. It was a marathon of a match against a familiar region rival, which we managed to win in a most exciting fashion to earn a spot in the silver bracket. When all was said and done, our results did not quite match our expectations. Still, the team performed well considering the adversity we had to overcome. More so, it was promising to see our play improve over the course of the tournament.
We may not have achieved our goal, but we came away from nationals with many valuable lessons that we will take with us. Most importantly, it was an honor to again represent Creole in Minneapolis. Seeing old friends and hanging out with the Creole family is no doubt the best part about nationals. It is safe to say that we all had an awesome time. We are definitely looking forward to improving on our 2009 performance for our return trip to nationals in 2010.
We really got to know the train system very well because our teammates arrived in several shifts. We were so excited to see them and welcome the “Nationals Newbies” that we went to greet each of them at the airport (on our way to the Mall of America of course).
When it came time to play, we were ready willing and able. The venue was great (we even go to play on courts 1 & 2 –Yeah!) and we really enjoyed the opportunity to be there to represent New Jersey and GEVA. We had our ups and downs with regards to our performance. Often it was more downs than ups but we ended on a high note with a 9 or 10 point comeback to only loose by two points in the end. We were not happy to loose, but it was a good way to end our competition.
There were a lot of teams from our region, so there was a great amount of camaraderie and companionship that developed over the week’s time. Unfortunately, in the beginning of the tournament, all of our comrade teams had the same pool schedule, so we could not visit their games like we would have wanted to. It became more like drive by cheering, as we ran past their court between matches and shouted “Go Jersey” or the team’s name in hopes that we would ignite a little excitement into their game. But, in typical Get Over fashion, we found a way to make it to almost everyone else’s game at some point in time. We would try to meet up at the computers, check the location of the games of the other teams and then split up to make sure we showed our support (as did many of the other teams for us). Sometimes we would be at one game all together, and a few of us would say “you guys stay here and we will go to court 12 to watch so & so”. We even found time to pick up some new friends, like the men’s and women’s team from Venezuela and some of the masters teams from New Jersey. Every now and then, we would meet each other in the middle of the convention center to check on one another and then go off to spread good “cheer” to others.
We enjoyed the company of old friends, made a lot of new friends, went to Target more than we needed to, painted the town red and enjoyed volleyball, volleyball and more volleyball.
| Now, that is Nationals Get Over It Style. |  |
Our personnel was strong, physically and mentally. As a team we were on an upward curve all throughout the season culminating in our best tournament at Regionals. I walked into the Convention Center on the first day, it was the end of the first half, bought myself an $8 beer, (tastes just like the $2 beer back home) and started to take it all in. We are all arriving now and the 2nd wave can’t wait to see some action.
Familiar faces all over the place. As many will tell anyone who asks, one of the best experiences of Nationals is meeting up with your volleyball friends. Rooting and cheering for their team as if its your own! Coming across friends old and new! Seeing former Kaboom players now in other regions!! Running in to dear old friend Roy, member of Kaboom Hall of Fame and one of the best team leaders and middles I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing with. He moved to Boston and showed up with Execution from New England and took 2nd in Silver. Watching him play brought back wonderful memories!
So, Kaboom shows up with Guillermo setting, Paul and Alec in the middle, Bryan and Steve OH, Martin as our Opposite and Mark (me) at Libero. Alec and Martin were nursing injuries and there was a team wide concern that we were not insured with numbers. So we picked up a player there in Minneapolis. Kevin fit perfectly, Kaboom was ready to go!
We practice the night before, get plenty of sleep, wake up for the afternoon wave, get on the court, and dominate the first game! Our Nationals is on the way.
We failed to win another game the rest of the day. As good as we were in the first game is as bad as we were in the second. And then the badness continued and continued. We played some tough teams, including the eventual Gold Champion, but our play was not up to National standards. We never did win a match, Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3. In order to have played Day 4, we needed to win one on Day 3. We didn’t. We did win the Beer Pool! (As Martin pointed out!), and fun was had by all! And it was a joy to be there for some of the better faring teams! Rage, 007, Deuce, Shark Bait, WTF, More CowBell, Chipotle, Puny Goonies, Moca and Get over It.
The teams that competed well in Gold or Silver were very strong. If any GEVA team sets their goal for the season to be competing well in Silver or Gold at the Nationals, then we need the region’s support in that effort. They must allow movement between levels, a little more freedom. Here we are; the Men’s B GEVA Regional Champions. In Minnesota we did not win a single match! Not a one! Yet we are forced to move up or disband because we won B Regionals. This is the first year I have played B in the Nationals and the level of play caught me by surprise. Performing well at the National Tournament is our clubs goal every year. We need our region to support clubs like this, not disband them.
I was speaking with one of the Hawaiian teams, they do not play in sanctioned events. They just play all year long with whomever, then as Nationals approaches they get together with their prospective teams and start practicing. All along with the support of their region, they have several A level tournaments for their B teams that are going to Nationals!!! Then, when the time comes, they embark on a rather successful National road trip. All the B teams in the Gold division in Minneapolis could quite easily and successfully compete here at BB.
In order to build a team that is capable of competing at that level we need to either sandbag or gain the region’s support!
Big Cheer goes out to Minnesota, always a fun town! And the people are great!!! The venue was fantastic, and the hotel ultra convenient. The beer was a little pricey, though.
Still no matter how you do playing volleyball Nationals is also about having a vacation and going out and having a good time. The last time we were in Minnesota we spent a good amount of time at Brits, and it certainly did not disappoint this year, great beer and food and an awesome atmosphere. Since my last trip to Minnesota I have gotten heavily into REAL BBQ, I must say that believe it or not the chain Famous Dave's did not disappoint, the local place Market BBQ was not very good though. The Beef Ribs were very overdone, way too much charring and very dry. I don’t like a lot of BBQ sauce on my food, but the beef ribs needed them to be edible. The spare ribs were a little better still overdone for my liking though. Sadly I think while the portion sizes were huge the best part about the place was the bucking hog ride they had at the entrance. Next year it looks like we are off to Phoenix, with a likely stop over at Vegas and the Grand Canyon and Sedona which are fairly close by.
Everything from the scheduling to playing was done, much to our liking. Well for one we had the afternoon session, which meant we all got a lots of rest! As far as the city went, as a group WE LOVED MINNEAPOLIS. Great restaurants, nicest people. Cheap food and drinks where ever we went. The city was very clean and for those of you who didn't go, the "Mall of America" was all and then some. Also some of us stayed a day longer to go to the Baseball game at the Twins home field, and by then and we were convinced that this city was a "Beauty".
Thank you Geva for another memorable year.
It was a great challenge and, obviously, very good competition. It was also a chance for us to play with our wonderful friends from other teams. Here’s the perspective from one of them.
If you want to put together a team to win, choose nearly 5’9” BB players. If you want to have more competition play, with enough people so that no one’s too worn out to play her respective division and have lots of friggin’ fun on and off the court…well, I’d say it was mission accomplished for us.
This year was the first year in the last 15 that Northshore almost didn’t make the trip. We were missing enough key players due to a variety of reasons that made us doubt going. But we picked up some good young players and went for the love of the game. Our chemistry wasn’t quite there, but it was more about being with our teammates and just playing to play. We hope to have our core group back next year to make a serious run in Pheonix!
Minneapolis is probably one of the last places that a group of 10 girls living in New York would pack up and choose to vacation. But when we heard that's where the Adult National Volleyball championships were going to be located, Minnesota soon became our destination for Memorial Day weekend 2009.
Although our team was started 3 years ago this was the first we were able to get a full squad to compete. Out of ten girls, nine of us were Nationals virgins. There were a lot of unknowns but we had high expectations, for both on and off the court.
Our team showed some freshman-itis the first two days, and we had a couple bad strands of luck, including one of our setters getting pummeled in the face with volleyball while watching one of the men’s teams play. We winded up in the bronze bracket for the remainder of the tournament. We decided to laugh it up and make the best of our situation.
Once we starting winning games, we didn’t stop. In fact, we represented for all of Long Island and took home the Gold Medal Championship in the Women’s A, Bronze Bracket!!!
 |
This picture was taken not even 1 minute after the last ball hit the ground of the championship match, because we than sprinted out of the convention center and hailed cabs in our spandex to make our flights back home. The post game celebration didn’t happen quite like we envisioned, but there was no shortage of that earlier in the week ;) |
We can’t wait to see what Nationals 2010 in AZ has in store!!
We had a bit of a rocky start on the first day, but we soon worked out the kinks and our play improved, enabling us to play into the 4th, and last, day of competition. The tie-dye warm up shirts helped us get our “groove on”! The shirt was also a metaphor for all of our ages, personalities, experiences, backgrounds, physical skills...all different but sort of blending in nicely together too. Being in a very strong pool, we definitely held our own against the tough teams and played some great games. The best was when we avenged our loss to a team we played against in U-Volley, who ended up in our pool. Moxie won the Silver in B. Of the remaining 4 teams in our pool, 3 teams finished in Gold, the other won Bronze. Naturally we replayed that team in our last match in the tournament. Playing teams from across the country was a great experience and provided many lessons to complement our GEVA season. We had our core group from U-Volley - Ann-Lee, Cindi, Jamie, Kiley, Mei, Sophia and Tullia, plus Meghan who was too tall for U-Volley. Ewelina and Laura had to stay home and were missed.
Here are some memories from off the court:
And thanks to:
What will Phoenix bring in 2010?!?!
The first day we went 2-1, with the only defeat coming at the hands of Judo Chop. I was ecstatic to see Agozar, whom I had played with during my time in Miami, playing on an adjacent court. Fellow Smashers reunited with former teammates, and everywhere I looked I saw former foes from volleyball tourneys past.
The Smashers played well on Sunday going 3-0, which left us with a gold-medal play-in game for Monday morning. We sacrificed a crazy night on the Nicolet Mall, and won our first game easily, but were defeated in our pursuit of gold bracket greatness in the second match of the day and had to wait until 6pm to face our next foe. This led to family time, as every member of my immediate family was in attendance at some point during the weekend (a small feat for 7 people spread over 800 miles). After watching some inspired Men’s open play by fellow GEVA members Creole, we crushed our first round opponent in the silver division, which set-up another 9am match for Tuesday. We got the early win, making it worth turning in early and won a three game thriller to set-up a rematch versus Judo Chop, our only pool play loss, for the championship. We came out with superior defense to take the first game. They stole the momentum from us in the waning points of the second game, getting the narrow win, to force a decisive third game for the championship of Women's A Silver division – this was for a picture in next year’s program! Unfortunately, we did not have the same result as earlier in the day and had to settle for silver in the silver division of Women's A.
Nationals was a great experience and a welcomed detour from the daily routine. I was overjoyed to add to my ever-expending rolodex of volleyball friends and thrilled to reacquaint myself with all of those who reappeared from my past.