Out with a bad back

I was told that Tim has been MIA due to a very bad back. No word on his ETR.

Tim - I can suggest a couple of forms of treatment, but they involve small woman walking across your spine or being suspended by ropes between North bound and South bound donkeys. Give me a call if you are desperate.

We could always use you on the side lines taking pictures for this blog!

The best defense...

In addition to varying the net to screw up Julia we can make Josh always serve from the hall side of the court. Big difference in performance...... Are there other defensive ploys we can try?

2/22 Julia Kills

We need to remember to vary the net height more often to keep Julia's kills at bay. During the first two games she perfected both her serve and her hit creating a biblical ally for the last two games.

February 22 Volleyball Report

Play of the day….There were several great saves. We had some long, very competitive games as it took us 53 minutes to play the 1^st 3 games. But the play that was discussed in the locker room afterwards took place during a heated volley and I saw it perfectly from my setter’s position. Steve got a set and with a crafty look in his eye he prepared to ease the ball over the net for a clear dink in the opposing middle. Simultaneously, Dan launched from a deep setting position and clearly blocked the dink. The timing was perfect and made all the more impressive by Dan coming from a deep position to anticipate the play and make the block.

The upset victory…..Not technically an upset as the team didn’t come from behind, but the undermanned, 5 person team of Rob, Bill, Jim, Peggy and Steve faced the steroid infused, youthful team of six assassins including; Brent, Josh, Gregg, Mark, Julia, and Dan and won by a surprising margin. I am not sure of the final score, but I believe I recall hearing 12-2 at one point. Who would have thunk it? Not Brent, as he immediately requested a rematch, but was denied. Without getting into specific metrics, let’s just say that among Bill, Jim, Peggy and Steve there were enough combined years to know that giving them a 2^nd chance would ruin the storyline. ;-)

Blast from the past…..Some may remember Dave Christopher, a volleyball and ardent wallyball player from about 3-4 years ago. I saw Dave yesterday. He is still a pharmaceutical rep covering a large territory in the North Country. He has received a promotion and now moves psychiatric drugs. This is good to know in case you need psychotropics to cope with your last volleyball game; or perhaps to delude yourself prior to your next big match. Dave threatened to appear at a wallyball session some Tuesday as he is sometimes in the area on Tuesdays.

Player we hadn’t seen for a while…..After being waylaid by sickness and then put off by the weather, Mark returned to the court after a lengthy absence.

Serving run of the day……It has to belong to Josh. Serving from his comfortable position deep behind the end line, Josh ran off 5 straight points; causing the opposing back line “Serve one here, Josh” to go silent. Fortunately, Josh was on my team at that point.

How are those new procedures working out?....You probably read that I did a couple of exchanges with Michelle from the Rome Family Y to put our volleyball agreement into writing. My main issue was getting the net set up in a timely fashion so we can play a full hour. We agreed if Y maintenance personnel were missing then I would be contacted in advance so we could arrive knowing we needed to set up the net. The 1^st week of the written procedures we show up and the net isn’t set up. To the Y’s credit they got a fill-in, Bob, in quickly to set it up. I talked with Michelle who said their normal maintenance person, Nick, went home and Michelle wasn’t aware of his absence. It sounded like the Y was going do some internal memo with Nick as a primary topic. I plan to include Michelle on our emailing list to provide a reminder.

All we need is....

What's needed now is some players!

Guidelines and Procedures

Thursday Lunchtime Volleyball League Guidelines and Procedures

YMCA Members will present their cards at the desk when entering the facility;
non-Members will sign in at the desk before entering the facility

YMCA will have net set up prior to play. If maintenance staff is not available, the Program Director will contact Jim Muller in advance to notify league needs to set up nets.

Game time is 12noon-1:00pm

Sessions run from January-April and September-December

Prior to each session the Program Director will be notified of start date and will advise on set up and pricing etc.

Non-members are able to use locker room and shower facilities, other areas of the facility are off limits unless a day pass is purchased upon entering the facility

Rules of the game are set in advance and to be followed by all participants. The YMCA has no responsibility for game rules.

New Volleyball POC

Today I met with our new volleyball POC, Michelle Grifasi, at the Rome Family Y. Personnel and organization at the Rome Family Y seem to change frequently. The only constants have been Gary Fahey and myself.

Today I provided a roster, explained our history, and exchanged phone numbers. We are trying to keep our lines of communication open so we can communicate any changes in schedule and procedures.

Michelle said she was going to draft a 'procedures memo' so everyone (Y staff and us) is clear on roles & responsibilities. I believe the essence will entail sign in procedures and getting the net set up. Michelle is going to try to ensure there is a sign-in clipboard at the front desk and request that everyone use it. I know there have been situations in the past when things were jammed and confused at the front desk and the easiest and quickest approach was to walk in the open door. The Rome Y frowns on that; for safety reasons they need to have accountability of all people in the building.

The other topic of discussion was setting up the nets. We agreed that if, for some reason, the volleyball net could not be set up by the Y they would call in advance so we could get someone to the Y a little early and set it up. Of course, we didn't think to address raising of the baskets......

On the whole it was a good meeting. I feel better having a POC clarified. I will share the "procedures memo" when it comes available next week. :-)

No Volleyball or Wallyball Today

There are not enough people able to play today or they have something else that they have to do (including Brent) so there won't be any Wallyball today. If you have any questions or complaints call Brent X3507. :-)

Why the blog?

Hey Jim,
We need a volleyball blog, with a calendar and weekly attendance check-box for each player, so we can cut the e-mail traffic, monitor whose coming, and properly chronicle the highlights of our weekly high jinks!!

Heather

2/08 Volleyball Report

First let me thank the intrepid souls (Jeremy, Julia, Josh, Jim, Brent, Heather, Rob, Brian and Steve) who played volleyball today. We had decent 5 vs. 4 games that were largely competitive - except for a 2 minute spell when Jeremy was possessed by a foreign body and momentarily suffered a mind/body detachment that incapacitated his normal volleyball decision making process and the rest of us were rendered helpless with laughter.

IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION: Next week - February 15th - the whole gym will be occupied by a Rome Family Y function and we will be unable to play volleyball.

There has been discussion of substituting wallyball for those that wish to get exercise. Wallyball can comfortably accommodate up to 8 players (4 on a side). Contact Brent if you wish to play wallyball next week.

Thursday Lunch Time Volleyball Invitation

All -

We will be playing Thursday Lunchtime Volleyball every Thursday 12-1pm at the Rome Family Y from September through April - broken into 2 four month sessions September-December and January-April. The purpose of this email is to invite your participation. The cost is $xx four months and includes use of the Rome Y facilities such as lockers and showers. Unfortunately there is no discount for being a Y member.

In the way of background information it is helpful if you have played volleyball sometime in your life, but not necessary. This is pickup volleyball; we try to use three hits, pass/set/spike and occasionally, when everything happens according to plan, the ball does get hit hard (and sometimes in bounds!). Teams are mixed up after every game, an effort is made to keep the teams competitively balanced and everyone strives to have fun and be positive. The Rome Y sets up the volleyball net prior to noon and usually there are four good games during the one hour play period.

All of the players are contractors from BAE Systems, Booz Allen Hamilton, CACI, Dolphin Technology, L3 Comm, Northrop Grumman, and SI International and we hope to continue participation from these and other DoD contractors.

While we are looking for additional full time players not everyone's work schedule can accommodate that, so we accommodate part time players coming and playing at $1 day. If you are interested in being either a full time or part time player please contact me. If you still aren't sure and want to try playing just once to see if you would like it we can accommodate that too.

We will begin starting Thursday September xx and I hope to see you there. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.