January 14-16, 2006 - With a
fifth place finish at the Challenge des Griffons CGEP
tournament the first weekend after the Christmas holidays under their
belt, the 18U CAPS set their sights on a better performance at the
Martin Luther King Kick Off Classic from January 14-16 in
Philadelphia, PA. For the third year in a row, the 18U CAPS
would be heading down to Temple University to take on some of the best
teams the American Northeast had to offer.
Early Friday morning, January 13th, three
fully loaded vans left Ottawa under clear skies from the usual Tim
Hortons rendezvous location on Greenbank Avenue for the eight-hour
trip to Philadelphia, PA. Making up the convoy were the
MacLean/Planetta, Séguin and O'Doherty vans, with Anne & Dan,
Lucie & Jean-Marie and Bob, all experienced long distance drivers,
taking turns at the helm. Taking the usual route saw the trio of
vans crossing the bridge into the USA at Alexandria Bay and heading
down I-81 through Syracuse, Binghamton, Scranton Wilkes-Barre and onto
the Pennsylvania Turnpike southeast to
Philadelphia.
With good weather all the way down, the
vans arrived in Philadelphia by dinner time and checked into the Red
Roof Inn in North Philadelphia. Well, most of the team and
drivers checked into the hotel. Five of the girls and the
Séguins then had to find the Druckman residence in North
Philadelphia. Fortunately for the team, Chris and Myles Druckman
(good friends of the McGuinty family) had offered to take in some of
the team for the tournament to help out. This turned out to be a
fantastic arrangement as the CAPS billet contingent really enjoyed
staying with and getting to know the Druckman family. In turn,
the Druckmans would become the girls' biggest fans at the
tournament.
The two previous years in Philadelphia had
seen the 18U CAPS teams bring home a bronze medal and fifth place
finish, so this year's edition of the 18U CAPS had their work cut
out for them when play started bright and early Saturday morning,
January 14th. Seeded fourth, the CAPS came out playing with lots
of energy and confidence. When the dust had settled on Day 1 of
the tournament, the CAPS had rattled off three victories, sweeping
Columbia VC (Maryland), R&B Select VC (Pennsylvania)
and Downstate Juniors VC (New York) each in two straight
games. The victory over Downstate Juniors avenged a tough
quarter-final loss to this club's 18U team the year before. By
finishing first in their Day 1 pool play, the girls advanced to the
Championship Bracket for Day 2 competition.
Since the girls finished their Day 1 pool
play early on Saturday afternoon, it was time to take everyone for the
annual visit to "Jim's Steaks" in downtown Philly and the
city's best "Philly Cheesesteaks". First the girls had to
learn how to order a cheesesteak in PhillyŠ
When in Philly, expect your order-taker
to have the manners of "The Soup Nazi". Be prepared when you
place your order. Cheesesteak shops are not known for their
patience and customer service. Act like you know what you're
ordering, and don't hesitate while making your choices. Know
your order BEFORE you approach the counter, and try and keep special
requests to a minimum (but still make sure you get what you want).
Ordering a cheesesteak can be traumatic in some places. So make
your decisions, and be assertive. Some guys can smell a tourist
a mile away. Act like you've been there a million times, talk
Philly sports, and say "Yo" a lot to try and blend in with
the natives.
Even though this was the first trip to
Philadelphia for most of the girls, all the girls passed the ordering
test with flying colours, and sat down in the restaurant's second
floor eating area to enjoy the fruits of their labour and check out
the pictures of all the famous people who have come to eat at this
famous eatery. Afterwards, the rest of the afternoon was spent
trying to get rid of the "cheesesteak" smell on everyone's clothes
and shopping in all the unique stores that this area of the downtown
district offers. Then it was back to the Red Roof Inn to relax,
enjoy a dinner of Papa John's pizza and goodies, and then off to bed
to get ready for another early morning start on Day 2.
Competition on the morning of Day 2 saw the
18U CAPS placed in a pool with three other Championship Bracket
contenders, including Norlanco VC (Pennsylvania), Crosscourt
VC (Pennsylvania) and Maryland Juniors VC (Maryland).
After dispatching the Norlanco VC 2-0, the girls were hard pressed to
beat the Crosscourt VC 2-1, and then stumbled against the Maryland
Juniors and lost in two straight games. This loss would prove to
be very costly as it caused a three-way tie for first in the pool.
Unfortunately, the tie-breaking procedure used at this tournament
placed the 18U CAPS against the Maryland Juniors again in a one game
playoff to 15 points to determine who would finish second and third in
this Day 2 pool. The inconsistent play that had crept into the
girls play against Maryland Juniors in their first meeting continued
in the one game playoff. So the 18U CAPS came up short again and
were relegated to playing for the Tier 2 Championship (places 11 thru
20).
With another day of competition ended by early afternoon, the girls
headed back to the Red Roof Inn to take showers, get refreshed and
head out shopping to the huge Franklin Mills Mall just 10 minutes from
the hotel. When the shoppers were exhausted or their money ran
out (I can't remember which happened first since the 18U CAPS have so
many world-class shoppers), it was time to head out to hook up with
the Druckman family for a Chinese food buffet. What a feast it
was, and a perfect ending for our last night in Philly.
Day 3, the last day of the competition,
again saw the 18U CAPS competing early in the morning. On this
day, the girls regained their form from Day 1 and quickly dispatched
three foes (R&B Select VC again, Court Authority VC
from Pennsylvania and NYC Juniors VC from New York) by the same
2-0 game scores. This resulted in the girls winning the Gold
Medal in Tier 2 and finishing in 11th place out of the 36 18U teams
entered in the tournament. It didn't seem fair that the girls
finished in this position with a match record of 8 wins and 1 loss,
but the one loss would certainly be remembered for its
impact.
"Considering we were coming off a two week break from volleyball and
a warm-up tournament in Gatineau the weekend before, our performance
at this tournament was pretty good", stated Head Coach Matt Harris.
"Unfortunately our inconsistent play against the Maryland Juniors on
Day 2 cost us an opportunity to play for a Championship medal on the
final day. Hopefully this experience will be something that the
girls can learn from as we progress through the rest of our season",
observed Assistant Coach Cathy O'Doherty.
After the tournament was over, there was only one thing left to do
before heading home to Ottawa. That was the ritual of the team
photo on top of the steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (you do
remember the movie Rocky, don't you?). Yes, there was the usual
mad dash up the steps, just like Sylvester Stallone did, and the
parking of the three vans in perfect unison at the bottom of the steps
whether it was legal or not.
Many thanks to the MacLean/Planetta,
Séguin and O'Doherty families for providing their vans for the trip
and long distance driving expertise behind the steering wheels.
Thanks also to the McGuinty family for making the great hotel and
billet arrangements with their friends the Druckmans in North
Philadelphia. As far as the DruckmansŠlet's just say that they
were the best billets aroundŠand deserve our deep
appreciation!
Congrats and thanks to Coaches Cathy and MattŠgreat job again.
Also, a big thanks to Cathy for coordinating all the paperwork
required to enter the tournament, including all those American
volleyball forms!
Hopefully, we can do this all again next
year!
