Volleyball at Wellington College (24th March 2010)
Jono plays indoor volleyball every Wednesday and this evening, I had the pleasure to watch him and his teammates (mostly his work colleagues which included Pooria and Liviu) play their regular game at Wellington College located by the Basin Reserve. I had better do some reading about the game rules before I watch it tonight since Jono ain't going to be sitting with me, explaining what's happening!
Jono came to see me after work around 5.30pm and we headed over to Wellington College where the rest of his teammates were already warming up, practicing their volleyball techniques: spiking, blocking, passing/bumping and serving the ball. I found myself a spot by the bench and sat there for the next hour watching Team Alcatel (Jono's all-male team) play against a team of younger university/college boys (Jono tells me these young boys are much better players than his team - don't worry, just give it your best and have fun!). Ooo, this should be an interesting game to watch, male testosterones on the court! Haha, kidding - it was a friendly game and the guys all had good sportmanship :) No jeering or swearing!
Hey, hey, don't hit me! Pooria was so mean, using me as a practice target for his spikes during warm-up...grr...Honestly, there was not a spot in the whole hall that one could avoid getting hit by the ball. 3 courts in the hall, all occupied with 2 teams of 6 players per court during the 1-hour slot, the balls were flying across courts and bouncing against the wall at times, occasionally getting way too close for comfort (had to dodge in fear I would get smacked by the ball!). I can forget about reading my book here - I don't want to get hit! Plus the game was more fun than my book anyway...hehe...Ha, and you wouldn't believe who ended up refereeing for them - Josh, though he doesn't recognise me when I smiled at him. Hmm...
Great effort, guys! Though the score tonight was 1-3, I thought Team Alcatel did very well - there were some good saves and blocks. I had fun watching the boys play :) Jono had to referee the next game and asked me to help him flip the score chart. Urm, are you sure you want me to help? I don't exactly know the rules all that well but ok...Took of my heels and scuttled down to court 2 where two mixed teams were about to play against each other. From the little I know about playing volleyball, this is what I understood about the rules of the game: when the ball contacts the floor within the court boundaries or an error is made, the team that did not make the error scores a point, whether they served the ball or not. That team then serves for the next point. If the team that won the point served in the previous point, the same player serves again. However, if the team that won the point did not serve the previous point, the players of the team rotate their position on the court in a clockwise manner (every player gets a turn at serving). The game continues, with the first team to score 25 points awarded the set. I'm not sure if it is compulsary but it seems that the player that serves next when his/her team scores 24 (match point), he/she would do a jump serve, a manoeurve that more often than not results in the ball getting caught by the net and the opposing team gaining a point. Occasionally, Jono had to whistle to stop the game when the ball from the other courts got into ours and the teams would just restart the serve.
I laughed when Jono told me one of the team's name was Village Idiots! Oh, but they were no idiots in volleyball - it was an exciting game watching them spike (and they spiked hard too - ouch!) and defeated the other team 4-0 (the opposing team were pretty good players too). At one point, one of the players was trying to save the ball that came very close to the net and ended up smacking into me! Now you believe me when I said you can never avoid getting hit? Still, I had a fun time - thank you for having me along tonight, Jono! We left Wellington College around 8pm and spent the rest of the evening watching TV over takeaway pizzas for dinner :)
Jono came to see me after work around 5.30pm and we headed over to Wellington College where the rest of his teammates were already warming up, practicing their volleyball techniques: spiking, blocking, passing/bumping and serving the ball. I found myself a spot by the bench and sat there for the next hour watching Team Alcatel (Jono's all-male team) play against a team of younger university/college boys (Jono tells me these young boys are much better players than his team - don't worry, just give it your best and have fun!). Ooo, this should be an interesting game to watch, male testosterones on the court! Haha, kidding - it was a friendly game and the guys all had good sportmanship :) No jeering or swearing!
Hey, hey, don't hit me! Pooria was so mean, using me as a practice target for his spikes during warm-up...grr...Honestly, there was not a spot in the whole hall that one could avoid getting hit by the ball. 3 courts in the hall, all occupied with 2 teams of 6 players per court during the 1-hour slot, the balls were flying across courts and bouncing against the wall at times, occasionally getting way too close for comfort (had to dodge in fear I would get smacked by the ball!). I can forget about reading my book here - I don't want to get hit! Plus the game was more fun than my book anyway...hehe...Ha, and you wouldn't believe who ended up refereeing for them - Josh, though he doesn't recognise me when I smiled at him. Hmm...
Great effort, guys! Though the score tonight was 1-3, I thought Team Alcatel did very well - there were some good saves and blocks. I had fun watching the boys play :) Jono had to referee the next game and asked me to help him flip the score chart. Urm, are you sure you want me to help? I don't exactly know the rules all that well but ok...Took of my heels and scuttled down to court 2 where two mixed teams were about to play against each other. From the little I know about playing volleyball, this is what I understood about the rules of the game: when the ball contacts the floor within the court boundaries or an error is made, the team that did not make the error scores a point, whether they served the ball or not. That team then serves for the next point. If the team that won the point served in the previous point, the same player serves again. However, if the team that won the point did not serve the previous point, the players of the team rotate their position on the court in a clockwise manner (every player gets a turn at serving). The game continues, with the first team to score 25 points awarded the set. I'm not sure if it is compulsary but it seems that the player that serves next when his/her team scores 24 (match point), he/she would do a jump serve, a manoeurve that more often than not results in the ball getting caught by the net and the opposing team gaining a point. Occasionally, Jono had to whistle to stop the game when the ball from the other courts got into ours and the teams would just restart the serve.
I laughed when Jono told me one of the team's name was Village Idiots! Oh, but they were no idiots in volleyball - it was an exciting game watching them spike (and they spiked hard too - ouch!) and defeated the other team 4-0 (the opposing team were pretty good players too). At one point, one of the players was trying to save the ball that came very close to the net and ended up smacking into me! Now you believe me when I said you can never avoid getting hit? Still, I had a fun time - thank you for having me along tonight, Jono! We left Wellington College around 8pm and spent the rest of the evening watching TV over takeaway pizzas for dinner :)
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