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One step at a time, one play at a time
(PHOTOS)
By Irena Zamboni, with photos by the 15U-B girls
January 10th, 2009 – With our regular ‘sports writer’ (the amazing Sue Jones!) unable to attend this event, I volunteered to take on the task of writing this sports edition. I can’t paint vivid pictures with words, so you’ll have to bear with me until I can hand over the task right back to the person I took it from. So here I go...
The NCVC Burgies set off on the road to ‘play up’ and age division at our very first post-Christmas tournament, the OVA 16U Girls McGregor Cup – Zone D. This was a tournament we decided to attend in preparation for the 15U event coming up just a week later, and to get the girls up and ready for the competition-heavy second half of the season. With the tournament being held in Kingston, the girls, parents and coaches set out on the road once again.
Our first match was against the 16U Panthers. The girls fought hard for their first match of the morning, but we experienced a breakdown in our passing and serving early in the 1st set, resulting in a score of 18-25. However, the Burgies did not give up without a fight. With a second set match point in favour of Panthers, Amber served us right back into the set from a 17-24 point deficit. Several aces later, we succumbed to the Panthers by a score of 25-27. The lesson learned – it’s never too late to get back into the game! We definitely created panic on the other side of the net, forcing the Panther coaching staff to take two time-outs in an attempt to throw us off our game. Burgies sure showed how to fight!
Next match of the morning was against Pegasus Rampage from Kingston. Being a tougher team, the girls once again struggled with passing and tough serves by their opposition. We fell in both sets to Rampage, by scores of 15-25 and 11-25. This team definitely pushed the Burgies to step-up the basic skills of passing and defending, a task we were willing to take on since we were sure to play Rampage again the weekend after and show them, and prove to ourselves that we can do better!
With this last pool play match under our belts, Burgies finished 3rd in the pool, quickly rejuvenated with a short break, and prepared for the next competition. Our first playoff match was against Peterborough Thunder, who finished 2nd in their pool. Right from the start, it was obvious that the Burgies stepped up their game. We rallied from a lost first set (14-25), to take the second one 25-20 and push Thunder into a tie-breaker third set. Just short of our goal, Thunder managed to come back and take the third by a score of 15-13.
In what turned out to be our last match of the tournament, the ladies played the Ravens 16U. Just as we had done with Thunder, we took Ravens for a 3-set ride. With tough serves and much better passing and offense execution, the girls took the first set 25-20. Ravens rallied from behind to win the second set 25-22. With the momentum of their win over the Burgies in the second set, the Ravens held down the fort and took us with a very tight win of 16-14. Don’t worry ladies, just as we did before, we’ll show the Ravens we can come back. Our record with the Ravens now is 1-1, as we had taken them in our very first encounter at a pre-Christmas tournament.
All in all, this tournament had a few surprises for us and saw us play a few new teams. However, the girls know that we can do much better and that all it takes to determine a winner is more practice, more focus, skill training and that dreaded word, ‘repetition’. Several coaches and parents from other teams came up to Jess and I to say that what’s admirable about the NCVC club (and speaking about our Burgies in particular) is that we always have heart, motivation, passion and enthusiasm! Way to go team! Pat yourselves on the back for never giving up. One step at a time, one play at a time, every tournament is a lesson learned – no hanging your heads!
— Irena
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