Thursday Coed 4's League Play

This week 5 of the coed quads league. Marcus from the Peninsula Gateway was there to interview and take photos. Double elimination playoff tournament starts next week.

On court 1, Carla, Scott, Bryan, and Kenny (just back from carrier duty) took on Andrea, Chris, Evan, and Stephan.

Scott shows off his passing form in his Gritty shorts...


Andrea chasing down a dig...


Nice Gateway photos of Andrea and Bryan, see "www.gateline.com/105/story/4668.html" to read article.



Meanwhile on court 1, the first and second place teams finally get to play. Renae, Dave, Gregg, and Rick take on Elissa, Slade, and Wes.

Rick starts his approach...


Slade approaches to hit one of Wes's sweet sets...


Gregg prepares to pass as Rick, Dave, and Renae prepare for a shank...


Close up of Dr. Mark Friedman's handywork.


Friendly congrats after a hard fought match...

Because the teasing has been oh so painful...

With a little digital doctoring, air can be added between sand surface and Gregg's feet.

"Hey, anyone have any spare back sand?"


That's right, "Cinnamon Toast"...


AKA "Sandbacca"...

Courts Too Full, But Paying Dividends

Excellent Spring weather means there's good play on the courts 2 or 3 times a week. Injuries have hampered participation by key GHSVBC members Kurt, John, George, and Dave, but Dave and George are back, and we expect Kurt and John back after surgeries.

Whether its local stars like Michael, Slade, and DJ, the GHHS girls team, families, or youth groups, the courts are used almost every day of every week. A large group of recreational high school players play so often it's annoying to those of us who consider these are own private courts.

City officials believe these courts get more use than any other park or playfield in the city, so the City has approved improvements to add concrete walls and sand borders, ball barrier netting, benches, and improved drainage surrounding the court. We are working with PenMet Parks to get these completed by the end of the year.

A coed 4's league was started recently on Thursday evenings, so we'll get photos for the blog soon.

A couple GHSVBC members, Dave and Gregg, experienced success at the Alki Sand Volleyball Association tournament on a blistering hot May 31st day. They signed up for the 45 and over masters division but ended up playing in the A tournament. Dropping only 2 games out of 13, they took 1st place by winning the finals on center court in front of a large crowd cheering for the "old guys." Fighting through leg cramps and exhaustion, Dave and Gregg unseated last year's finalist in the semi's and last years champs in the finals. Lucas and Evan played also, and hung around with girl friends Lauren and Betsy to cheer and take photos...like these:





The post-tournament celebration party was a doozy...

First warm sunny day of the year

With Kurt, Dave, and George all out with injuries, the remaining players took advantage of perfect weather to put in a good 3 hours of play. Newcomers Chase, Evan, Max, Vicky, Betsy joined old timers (and we do mean old) Scott, Chris, Blake, Gregg, and Mike (in that order). Thanks to his daughter and her new camera, most photos this time are of Gregg in action.

Gregg tries to dig a bad pass (sorry Blake) out of the net. Blake later commented on the size of the hole in the sand left by Gregg's butt.


Gregg rises to hit a perfect set by Blake while Scott digs in and Chris backpedals for the deep corner.


Finally some evidence that Scott indeed can jump out of the sand.

Snow in the Harbor, sun at the courts

On a snowy and slightly windy day, the sun shined on the courts for a bit. Regardless, there was more volleyball play to be had. Regulars George, Scott, Dave, and Gregg were joined by Tim (just back from an AF Guard tour in New Zealand) and Jeff.

Dave is proud of his deep poking skills...this time over Tim's block.


Tim pounds hard onto the tape for a nice dribbler winner.


A couple shots of Dave hitting...



And now George...


Me thinks a kill is in Dave's near future...


Yeah, like this one...


A photo intended to shame Dave into playing never again...


The closest thing to Gregg spiking since the leg injury reduced him to credit card height jumping abilities...


Even though there's a BMX death-trap located 20 feet away from the courts, City concerns about litigation over injuries must be the reason behind this bizarre sign...double click photo to read the fine print.


We're still trying to figure out how to line the sand with a nice even border. This cedar tree was delivered a couple weeks ago with instructions to peel and place before others are delivered. We can't figure out what they have in mind because these logs ranging from 3 feet to 8 inches in diameter won't do.


With the Parks Appreciation Day approaching, we're hopeful that we'll be able to upgrade the court borders and the park around the court to match the quality of the courts themselves. The City and PenMet Parks appear to be willing to help. While we continue to play, we patiently anticipate the upcoming sunny days at our new park.

23 Weeks Running

The gang hasn't missed a week since court completion on Sept 20th, and when the sun comes out, we play 3 times. Former GH star Alan now comes down from Seattle to beat up on us, and others are coming out after hearing about the great fun being had. The City has committed to helping us clean up some of the remaining issues, and the parks commission seems intent on using their resources to help us make a couple major improvements to the park in general. Here are some recent photos:




Notice that family playing on the adjacent court in the background. We see this more and more, which give us great pride and also scares us into thinking we need more courts.




Check out the height on that jump...the gimp is back!

1st Annual New Years Invitational

What better way to ring in the new year than 4 hours of quality volleyball at our favorite sand venue. Ana, Chris, Dave, Eric, George, Gregg, John, Kurt, and Scott had a great time playng in the sporadic rain and wind. Gregg was back on the court for the first time since tearing his quadriceps tendon in September (his first time on the new courts), but playing on the "no jump" court.



Nice stylin gators, Scott!


Lots of great play...unfortunately little of that was captured by the camera.

John doesn't let George's sweep block bother him. Check out their height above the net...almost as if they were playing on a women's height net.


Scott follows through off of John's set.


Dave adjusts in mid-air to achieve a full force spike...either that or he's just a spazoid jumper.


Eric shows daughter Ana what a good topspin serve can do.


The only good video of some decent play. Kurt snaps one to the middle on a great set out of the supple gloved hands of George.