Sadly, thanks to the sluggish driving habits of my chauffer, I missed not one, but both of the B teams volleyball games. As a result, my report on these first two Lady Charger games will be second hand.
The Lady Chargers of Forest Meadow played the Broncos of Barbara Bush Middle School. This was a high-spirited game, and the parents I spoke with told me about two games where the girls played some great volleyball. They played hard, they played well and they put everything they had into each and every bump, set and spike. When he dust settled, the Lady Chargers may not have been the victors, but they’re still number one!
The A team took the court with fire in their eyes and winning in their hearts. They grabbed a quick two-point lead and jumped ahead with some serious momentum. The score was Bush Middle School 5, Forest Meadow 6 and Forest Meadow had the serve. The Lady Charges had the wind at their backs and they were on the move.
Then it happened...
After a Bush time out, the girls were all getting ready for the serve. The platform referee blew his whistle and signaled that Forest Meadow had lost the serve. The stunned players and spectators alike sat dumbfounded as they passed the ball over to the Broncos.
As it turned out, the referee had decided, rather haphazardly, to suddenly enforce a five second rule. We found out later that the players have exactly five seconds to serve the ball once the whistle blows. Evidently “Stopwatch Willie,” the head referee at the game, had somehow managed to count to “Five Mississippi” in his tiny little head and then blown his whistle.
I’m all for following the rules! I mean, where would this great county of ours be without rules and consequences for those who didn’t follow them.
Now I’m no lawyer, but in my book, if you’re going to start enforcing that kind of precedent, then it seems to me that you’re going to need something a wee bit more chronographically accurate than Stopwatch Willie counting to Five Mississippi each and every time someone is serving. All I know is that I started timing girls on both teams, and I got to seven, eight and even eleven Mississippi on more than one occasion. And that was with servers from both teams, but he never made that “Serving Time is Up” call again. I wonder why?
That seriously crappy call and the loss of the serve quickly deflated the spirit of the entire Forest Meadow team. Don’t get me wrong; these girls still played some incredible volleyball! Even after the 'Bush Middle School Serve-Time Fiasco of 2008' (a name for this sad event in history that I hope will catch on) the game ended with the score, Bush Middle School 25, Forest Meadow 20.
The second game was a disheartening uphill battle. The second string had just sat by and watched the Bush Middle School Serve-Time Fiasco of 2008, as well several other examples incredibly poor of refereeing. It was becoming painfully obvious that the two best players on the Broncos team stood on the sidelines and blew whistles!
However, in true Lady Charger fashion, these girls faced their opponents head on and never looked back.
From the beginning, it was easy to tell that our Lady Chargers were downtrodden, but those brave girls fought with everything they had. After what felt like and eternity, the Lady Chargers found themselves down 23 to 10. With only 2 more point to score, it looked like the game was over.
Then it happened...
Something sparked deep within our team and a charge began. Great play after great play kept happening and point after point kept popping up on the scoreboard. What started at Bush Middle School 23, Lady Chargers 10 miraculously changed to Bush 24, Forest Meadow 22. The Charger fans couldn’t stay off their feet, and the Bronco fans couldn’t breathe.
This group of Lady Chargers played with everything they had and the Bush Broncos were very aware they had played a superior team…a superior team who was having an off night.
What can we say about the night's games?
Our Lady chargers might not have had the highest scores…but they were in no way outplayed!
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