Caleb Geffken : November 2013

We've Come a Long Way

Many other games were played and many more games were won. Essex continues to be our hardest competitor. As we play together our camaraderie strengthens, our communication becomes more in sync, and our plays become second nature. The terminology is a common language that we all understand as well as hand signals and even a look can communicate to each other. Our team has become a mini society, a sub-culture in which we all play a part.

Our first win

Next we would play Burlington High School, another Varsity Team that had experience playing as a team. They had a very tall player, 6’5” that gave them a lot of confidence. But again we came into this game with the intent to win. We would use our strategies and rituals to intimidate and build our team spirit. We celebrate the small successes during the game, we played with ferocity. We knew we had worked hard, hard enough to beat this team if we communicated with each other. We set the ball for each other, we spiked it, and we executed a few plays! We blocked the other team’s attempts to spike and poked it over the giant at the net. While we would use all 5 sets, we would win this game; we felt like we were David and had defeated Goliath. Not only had we won, we had come together as a team.

Our first game

Our first game we played, Essex High School. We knew they would be tough. Essex was a Varsity Team; we were just a Volleyball Club in our first year. We felt we could use a little intimidation in our favor, so we used eye-black on our faces to give us a warrior look. This would be a technique or intimidation tactic we would employ all season against our tougher competitors. We strategized to have some team rituals to build team spirit. We would beat the floor, and caw like a Redhawk in the beginning of the game. We celebrated the small wins during the game. While we played hard, and the sets were close, we would lose that first game but not by much, but it still took the wind out of our sails a little bit because we felt we had worked hard. However, we came together as a team, each member trying their best to step up and meet the challenge.

Becoming a Team

As we practiced daily, it was slow at first but soon we were playing more as a team. We had to learn the rules, and the terminology. We learned how to serve the ball, returned the ball, bump the ball for the server to set the ball for the hitter. We talked about strategy, technique, and plays that would confuse the other team and are advantageous for our team. Our first few scrimmages against other team did not go well. We needed to communicate with each other. Calling for the ball, setting for each other, letting a teammate know that the return shot was going out were all things we needed to work on. The official season was to start, we got our uniforms. Our coach had pulled some strings to get us official uniforms; we started to feel like team and now we looked like a team. We were a tribe that had social structure, and could identify ourselves and others could identify us as a team. At least we looked the part, but were we ready to face another team?

A Disorganized Bunch of Hooligans

As the volleyball club had its first meeting on September 3, it was clear as the potential players hit the volleyball court, we had no formal training. The scene, chaotic at best, as players threw balls at each other, hit the ball over the net, but more often hit the ball in the wrong direction. Many of the hits were single hits over the net with no thought of working together using the 3 hits per team to bump, set and hit. The terminology seemed a foreign language to us. The rules were a mystery to most of the team. And there was absolutely no strategy involved in the course of play. We were a bunch of individuals, with no social structure.

Volleyball

Thesis -

When we started the Volleyball team we were individuals who were disorganized and didn't know anything about the rules, but the more we practiced together we formed a community with a certain culture that knew the rules of the game and spoke a common language.