Final Game of the Season

My chauffer polished off about two liters of Blue Raspberry, Mad Dog 20/20, so I decided to give him the night off.  As a result, I made it to the games on time.  

Our final opponent for the season, at least before the big tournament, was the Richardson North Vikings, and the B Team started off the evening looking pretty good.  Their first game was a painful back and forth battle that ended with a narrow victory for the Vikings.  

The B Team’s second game didn’t start off much better, and the Lady Chargers quickly found themselves down 15 to 4.  However, in true Lady Charger spirit, these girls rallied and brought the score back to 21/16.  

In the end, our Lady Chargers weren’t able to swing things fully back and they lost the second game 25 to 16. 

The A team’s had a hard time finding their groove in the first game.  Points and plays that in recent games would have never happened, seemed to be popping up all over the place.  The Vikings weren’t playing better than the Lady Chargers, but the Lady Chargers kept giving them point after point.  

A timeout was called and the score was Vikings 11, Lady Chargers 7.  

I was sitting there with my spirits going in the pooper when I had this thought…Every comeback begins with a single point. 

After the timeout the Lady Chargers tied the score at 12 to 12 and never looked back.  The final score ended up Lady Chargers 25, Vikings 15.  

It seemed their final match of the season was going to go their way.  

Call it overconfidence, call it the luck of the draw, call it whatever you like…but in the end you have to call it a poor ending to an otherwise magnificent night.  

That’s right, the Vikings somehow managed to win game two and game three.  

What I do know is that the eight grade Lady Chargers from Forest Meadow Jr. High are a talented group of girls who play hard and pour everything they have into each and every game.  Combine that with a couple coaches whose philosophy of leadership is, “Show respect and you get respect,” and you get a group of girls who are winners…no matter what the scoreboard says.  

Coach Owens and Coach Ogden took a group of girls with skills at all levels of the game and taught them how to focus and work as a team.  

Thank you Coach Owens and Coach Ogden.  Thank you for allowing our girls to call you coaches and role models and leaders, but thank you most of all for allowing them call you friends.  

I’ve had a good time writing about these games and am sad the season is over.  Thanks for reading my weekly report of the FMJH, Lady Chargers Volleyball adventures!

 

Author’s Note:

And what about our crazy, mumbling dad?  He showed up again…and I tried to talk with him.  However, it became clear rather quickly that he’s not all there.  

First, he couldn’t sit still.  He would sit on one side of the net and then switch to the other.  Sure the girls change sides for each game, but his movements were more than that.  I can’t quite put my finger on it, but take it from a guy who has worked with more than his fair share of students with ADHD this guy needs more, or maybe stronger medication.   

Second, and this was possibly even more disturbing that his odd movement behaviors.  The times I was able to pin him down for a few seconds and speak it was odd, because he didn’t really speak in complete sentences.  He would open his mouth and spew out little phrases and parts of sentences.  It was as if he was trying really hard to make some kind of really profound statement, but just couldn’t pull it together.  

In the end, I’m not sure if or when I’ll ever see this guy again.  The good news is he doesn’t seem to be any kind of real danger to anyone or himself.  At least he didn’t seem to be.  I only hope that in someway he’ll be able to get the help he so desperately needs.