As Club Season Ends in Orlando a Volleyball Parent Reflects and looks forward to What's Next

Last weekend Orlando was host to the Regional Volleyball Tournament, where more than 160 teams from ages 12 to 18, played in the Civic Center on Saturday and Sunday.
For many, this also marked the end of the 2008-2009 volleyball season. Some teams finished their season the weekend before that in West Palm Beach, but this would be the de facto end to the season as we knew it.

Personally speaking for the 16 year olds from the South Dade Volleyball Club, I am truly sad that we can’t look forward to another tournament on a weekend, or taking my daughter to practice and chatting with other parents I had the pleasure of meeting as my daughter joined the team early on this year.

As the ladies practiced and honed their skills under the eye of their coach, Jorge “Chamo” Torres, we would sit at the bleachers and talk about so many things.

Personally, I like to exercise a bit and would shag balls or volley with one of the other ladies who may not have a partner to practice pepper. I know that is an exception, and most coaches would prefer to have their girl’s parents sitting and watching, and not interfering, but I have always been a volleyball layer and simply cannot help myself in doing something with a team!

So, after so many practices on weekdays and games on weekends, it is sad to part ways with everyone after last weekend’s tourney.

We have shared so many experiences, especially watching the ladies in action during the games, that it is simply too difficult to begin to describe how we have bonded through all these months. But bonded we have, and I can say that we have labeled out ladies of the team as the “Cardiac Kids” for their fleeting glimpses of genius in the game, where they played one as a team and came through during clutch moments, as well as the regular mistakes that costs us so many games and added so many grey hairs to my head.

After our last game on Sunday, and after a fantastic showing on Saturday, the ladies placed on the gold bracket, single elimination games on Sunday, and the realization of the fact that this was finally over was when they were eliminated in the first game on Sunday. However, the ladies took advantage of one final time together on Saturday and went to one of the Disney activities that were so much in the back of their heads.


The beginning of this team's season ending was with Coach Chamo’s final chat with the ladies, and then with the parents, and then everyone wanted to thank Chamo and the girls, etc. Then began the picture taking. Everyone wanted a picture of everyone else, everyone was asking for their e-mail addresses as well as their phone numbers. But pictures were continuing, and nobody wanted to leave for their four hour plus drive back to Miami. But eventually, everyone parted ways.

However, ideas began to flow, and we will see the girls meeting a few times throughout the year. One of the things we will be doing is arranging a get-together in a few weekends, once life goes back to normalcy. One parent offered their home, and the date has been tentatively set.

The other is that the girls have agreed to meet one or two days every weekend to play v-ball in a sand court at Coral Reef Park. This way, theirs skills will be honed as their work out in the tough conditions of the sand and hot sun.

As I type this article I am right now at the park as some of the ladies are playing a two against two at this park. It is a beautiful day and the memories still abound of the season, and this is a way to close one chapter of this book and open another. I cannot wait until next season! In the meantime, I have found another way to get a workout and play volleyball with the ladies, and at the same time work on my tan.



See you all at the sand courts!









SPECIAL THANKS TO PHILIP "FLIP" LITTKE, WHO HAS CONSTANTLY CONTRIBUTED TO THE REPORT WITH ARTICLES AND HIS GREAT PICTURES. WE INVITE PARENTS AND PLAYERS TO WRITE IN AN ARTICLE AND OR OBSERVATION - TOGETHER WE CAN ALL MAKE VOLLEYBALL A GREATER SPORT IN SOUTH FLORIDA!