So from 1994 to 2000, first with Landon and then with Landon and Logan, Kay and I spent Saturdays in YMCAs, schools, and wherever a net could be put up in buildings, watching volleyball tournaments. Play, sit, ref, play, sit, play, play, sit, ref, hope we make the play-offs, single –elimination, win-it-all, get your T-shirt and maybe a trophy, and head home—sometimes from Dallas, often from San Antonio, and every now and then, from the other side of Houston. And for five summers, vacations were built around junior nationals tournaments—in New Orleans, in Denver, in Reno, and in other exotic locations. We loved it.
And when the boys found an outstanding club volleyball program for men at Texas A&M, it was close enough that we could go to College Station, or UT, Sam Houston, or UTSA, and on most weekends in the Spring, and a few in the fall, we would watch as the Aggies played, sat, reffed, sat, played, sat, played, played, hoped they made the play-offs, and tried to find a place to have dinner at 11 o’clock. Then Kay and I drove back to Houston. And on Spring Break, we traveled to the University of Arizona, or U Cal, for college tournaments, and to Reno (again), Charlotte, Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, and Kansas City for NIRSA nationals, which included college and university club teams from all over the country. (In Dallas, we came close to the finals, and Landon was named to the second team All-American team. In Columbus, Logan was MVP and the Aggies’ second team won Divison III national title.) And Kay and I loved it.School teams are behind us now, and Logan has pretty much retired from the sport, but Lando the Setter and Team Captain lives on—now playing on a men’s team made up of former Aggies, a Longhorn and one or two others. They call themselves NEXT, because they want to be THE next team to dominate Texas men’s volleyball.
Last week, before leaving for Virginia on the second leg of the sabbatical, Kay and I traveled to Austin for the Men’s Nationals of USA Volleyball. NEXT was seeded very high, and because the tournament was on home soil, and because every year is the same, Landon believed his team had a chance in the AA division. On Wednesday and Thursday, they won their pool play with 4 wins and 1 (very close) loss. On Friday, a win in a challenge match with a team from New York City (Long Island) put them in the gold division (in position to win it all). In their first match, they were outplayed by Top Shelf, (which put them in the loser’s bracket of the double elimination play), but they came back and won match number 2. On Friday, they faced a tough road, playing often against difficult teams. But on Saturday, they won at 8 am, again at 10:10, and at 12:20, they came face-to-face with Top Shelf again, the team that had knocked them down to the losers’ bracket the day before. They played their hearts out and beat them in 2. And that win took them to the finals with Benchwarmers--a chance to win the AA Nationals title. They lost the first game, but came back to win the second, and found themselves down 12 to 14 in the 15 point third game. They couldn’t pull it out, but wow, what a finish. And so close.
Landon is the setter and captain of the team. Kay and I were talking today, and she spoke of how proud she was of the Lando-matic—his leadership, his determination, and his skills. I didn’t get to see the action on Saturday, but I did get to see the action on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and on . . . I-don’t-know-how-many, surely more than 100 matches of exciting power volleyball. And I concur with Kay, Landon is a great setter, a fantastic team captain and coach, a respected volleyball teacher, and someone who knows the game as well as anyone. But most of all, he’s a good person, who has a mission in life, and who follows his call to serve on that mission for the kingdom of God every day. Way to go, Lando! Care-full-y,
Rick
No comments:
Post a Comment