Volleyball

By Uncle Hans

Probably the most enjoyable part of my time at Trinity Bible College was participating in the intramural volleyball league. I saw the sign up sheet in the hall and boldly added my name to one team. I did it because the team appeared to be managed by one of our assistant football coaches who is a graduate student.

( editor's note:  What Hans fails to point out is that he has played volleyball for 4 to 6 hours a week for the last 35 years. He points out in his book that it is the number one reason that he is able to play college football at 65)

He seemed a little hesitant when I talked to him about being on the team. Who wouldn't be skeptical about a 65 year old who wants to be on your team when you won the championship last year and want to repeat?

But they let me play. You could see they were a little uncomfortable at first because they play a quite a different style from the way we play. We play with the net at regulation coed height, which is 7 ft 11 and 5/8 in. They use regulation girl's height. We also don't play the more advanced "position" volleyball that these girls have been taught. So I had to be taught where to stand, Etc.

I picked it up in time and began to contribute. I have a fairly steady overhand serve which was helpful. I also have a rather unusual Kareem Abdul-Jabbar "Skyhook" spike, which my colleagues at home have come to call "the windmill". It is unpredictable and hard to block. So I actually earned my place on the team, as opposed to football where I never got good enough to contribute.

In this picture, the big guy in the maroon shirt across from me at the net is about to become a victim of "the windmill". Because my cell phone camera is, well, a cell phone camera, you can just barely make out the ball as a blur in the edge of the blue sign just above the net on the far wall of the gym. The ball came down and hit him in the elbows, dribbling harmlessly down his front and onto the floor.

I am just returning to earth with a big smile on my face. These pictures are from the semifinals, which we won. We lost in the finals to the same team and had to settle for second place. What happened there is another story, which I might tell if I ever get on Oprah Winfrey or Ellen DeGeneres.  LOL!

Uncle Hans

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