February 10, 2008 - Writing this,
we are currently in a little town called "Parish" just outside of
Mexico, New York! We were on the way home from our tournament in
Cleveland (the Ohio Valley Region 17s National Challenge), when
we got whited-out, sidetracked and stranded. Now we are jamming
in a quaint diner called the Mapleview Family Restaurant killing time
until the snow passes. The friendly locals welcomed us with open
arms and lent us their booths to sleep in along with some-
dihydrogen monoxide (H20) for our parched
throats.
During our 8.5-hour drive down to
Cleveland, we 17U CAPS were excited to see what Ohio Valley Region
volleyball had in store for us. In a convoy of three vehicles,
we were keeping contact all the way down with walkie-talkies.
Singing, movie watching, pit stopping and anticipating a great weekend
ahead kept us occupied and made the time fly by. We discovered
Leah's new addiction- gaming! She spent a good $20 trying to
win Grillz and Teddy Bears with a rigged metal claw (still hasn't won
anything though).
With hardly any complications at all during
the drive, there was only one catch: we got stopped at the border
because we were carrying a foreigner! Rebecca's Australian uncle
Allan had decided to come check out what we really meant when we said
Canada was 5,729,057,309,567,320 times better than the States.
After a brief delay and a few bucks for an entry visa, we continued
into the country. We arrived at our hotel in time to clean up
for dinner and head out to Appleby's to have quite the "cheesy"
dinner. We headed back to swim and perform water aerobics, and
then to bed to catch some shut eye before our 6:30
wake-up.
Before our first match, we discovered that
the US doesn't have Timmy's- so we had to resort to dirty Dunkin'
Donuts for some salty bagels that were all denser than gold.
Walking into OhioNets, Brittany was sad to see we weren't
playing on the "sport turf" (?) that we see at tournaments such as
Nationals. The six inline courts provided a different dynamic
from what we were used to. There were no benches and the down
referees were players, which made for a long day.
Going into our first game, we didn't know
what to expect. The pre-game protocol called for a royal wave to
the stands and a good luck handshake with the opponents. Our
first match was against Cincy Classics 17 Black. During
the match, we were pretty impressed with the level of intensity and
killer instinct defense they displayed. They caught us sitting
back on our heels and took that match in two. The next game was
versus Premier Volleyball Club 17-1, the number one seed.
Being the underdogs, we put up a good fight and hit really well, but
their defense made it practically impossible to find a hole. So-
they won. Dang. But we had taken Premier deeper than many
of the fans had ever seen, so we didn't let our two losses get to us.
We fought back hard against Spirit VBC, and took it to a
nail-biting third set. Point-for-point, CAPS took their first
victory and forced a 3-way tie for second place! Calculating the
points for and against, we were unlucky enough to end up in 4th place,
and dropped to Tier 2.
Late that afternoon, during our first game
in our new pool, we played Akron-Canton Elites 17 Black.
Obviously a little worn out, we weren't on our "A" game.
A.C.E. took that match 2-0. With weary muscles beginning to
ache, we headed back to the hotel to clean up for another night on the
town and dinner at Olive Garden. Unfortunately, our night on the
town didn't work out as planned. So we ordered in pizza, pasta
and salads and ate in the comfort of our own "home" (the hotel
lounge) and watched School of Rock on the flat screen. We turned
in early, dreading the thought of our 5:45 wake up the following
morning.
Dunkin Donuts again- grrrreat. But
apparently it gave us enough fuel to come out with two big W's
against Tornado Volleyball Club and Team Energetics
Volleyball Club. Having had to referee two games in a row prior to
playing our consolation semi-final really put a damper on our ability
to execute successfully. With half-empty stomachs and gym head,
we lost our final game in three sets against Portage Volleyball
Club. We packed up in a hurry knowing a long drive home was
in store.
Going home, we were a little disappointed
with the results, but we knew it was all about experience and getting
the opportunity to play some new and very skilled teams with very
different styles. "It was a higher level of volleyball than we
had ever seen and we adapted well. This will hopefully be a
learning experience coming into next weekend", commented coach
Matt.
So we're off now- we're spreading out for
naps in the diner booths, gearing up to conquer the blizzard and
(hopefully) head back home to Canada. It was a great trip all
thanks to the coaching staff who organized it all and the parents who
gave up their relaxing weekend to help us weather the
storm.
- Marijke, Lauren, Robyn, Steph & Kaleigh... with a
little help from their teammates
A parent's strongest memories of the
Cleveland trip:
- The Silver Bullet - still truckin' after all these years
- The charming banter between young ladies on Walkie-Talkies -
priceless
- The saving grace of electric windows - 'nuff said
- The American 'quick subs' rule - very entertaining
- The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame that we never saw because it
closes at 5:30! (perhaps Cleveland actually does not rock)
- Chris' taste in obscure, unmentionable beer brands
- The "Allan March" - 'nuff said
- The Aussie's dry sense of humour, his willingness to 'hit the
floor' to support the girls, and his ability to open any beer
bottle, anywhere, anytime - no opener required
- Jonathan's dog stories - who knew?!
- Laura's liquid adventure with something called "Jack 'n
Cheese" at Appleby's
- Whiteout, a.k.a. The Wrath of Lake Ontario
- Coach Matt's variety of sleeping positions and locations
- Kaleigh reading a French book to Lauren till all hours of the
night - very cute
- Heaping mounds of grits (I think) & gravy - what's up with
that?
- Chris helping the Mapleview staff shovel their walkway after
sleeping the night in a blizzard - in his car! Grizzly
Miedema.
- Corinna, Corinna
- Diane the photographer - thanks for letting me relax this
weekend
- Paul Edwards
