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It was a day I don't want to remember, but I know I'll never
forget.
After a season filled with personal injuries - a broken finger,
a twisted ankle, another twisted ankle - our volleyball team
was about to make school history, bringing home the first boys
provincial volleyball banner. We were the Number One team in
the province and unbeatable under full strength, which we finally
were.
Consistent playing, communication on the floor, and the noisiest
bench at the tournament got us into the final four of this ten-team
tournament.
The semi-finals were against Westwood, the only team in AAA
that had ever beat us and they had only done that when we were
not in full strength. I couldn't wait to start the game.
But, that never happened. As we were hitting, in the warm
up, I tossed my ball to the setter, called out "seven"
to indicate that I wanted a middle shoot set, approached, jumped,
made contact, and landed on the foot of our other setter who
was setting the power side.
I immediately fell to the ground. I didn't realize the extent
of my injury until after I was carried to the bench and was watching
(instead of playing in) the most exciting and important game
of the season. I lay there with my leg up on the end of the bench
and ice on my ankle watching my teammates lose a close match
to our opponents, the eventual AAA provincial champions.
Not playing hurt more than my throbbing ankle, along with
letting down a lot of senior students who had their hearts set
on winning this rare white banner.
Not a lot of time goes by that I don't think of this exciting
day that went terribly wrong. But with each passing day the memory
does fade and I realize that life still does go on. |
