Dejavu

Who would have thought that after twenty-five years I would again be sitting in a noisy gym watching girls on a volleyball team.  When my daughter played volleyball I attended matches for about ten years in a row. While in middle school she played for the North Arvada Knights and wore purple and white. In high school she was a Redskin in a red and white uniform and in college she was a brown and gold Ranger.

My daughter in her Regis uniform.

One of the things I remember were the noisy gyms.  I sat on hard bleachers and could hear the noise reverberating with all the cheers, yells, and balls hitting the floor, walls or ceiling.  The noise was magnified if more than one game happened to be played in the gym and loud was an under statement!  From around 1979 until 1988, I was a devoted fan attending most of the games played and even driving to New Mexico or Kansas to watch my daughter play.

Now, the year is 2012 and I took my granddaughter to her volleyball practice. Twenty-five years have gone by and here I sat in another loud gym. Immediately, it was dejavu! Four teams were practicing simultaneously in the small gym. The only difference I could see was that my granddaughter's uniform was dark green, but the noise was exactly the same! My granddaughter would love to be a setter, just like her mother, but it is too early to tell what position she will play. I was told that there is a comparison between a setter and a football quarterback in how important they are to the outcome of a game.

Memories push their way into my mind as I watch the young girls jump, spike, serve, hit the floor and return the ball. I can tell that my granddaughter is a strong server.  She bounces the ball on the floor a few times, holds the ball in her left hand, tosses the ball high into the air and as it begins to come down, she swings her right arm hitting the ball with the inside bottom of her palm.  The ball flies over the net and lands on the opposite side of the net. The serve, to me, looks like a tennis serve but without the racket!

I will not be able to see any games because she lives in California and I am in Colorado.  I hope her parents  video tape her games and post them on Facebook so I can see my granddaughter play.  One thing I know for sure is that I will not miss the noise created by spectators and players in an indoor gym!

My granddaughter on her way to a tournament in  Rancho Cucamonga