The Vikes' Alex Krzyz dives for a ball early in match
at Parker. (Photo by Ed Piper)
Volleyball is a funny game.
La Jolla's boys team led Parker in the first game Fri., April 10, on Parker's home court, 10-2. Then 11-6. Then the Vikings scored 11 straight points to make the score 22-6, finally closing out the first game, 25-10. Both teams had their first-line players in. It seemed the La Jollans could do no wrong, and that Parker could not stop them.
Then for the second game, Coach Dave Jones put in some second-line players. La Jolla won the second game, as well. But some momentum, or mojo, or something, was lost, and a match that seemed to be the Vikings' in a sweep ended up tied, 2-2, in games, with the fifth game necessary to decide it.
La Jolla did win the fifth game, and the match. But it makes you scratch your head at how what looked like a sweep became a cliffhanger.
That's the unpredictability of sports. And the unpredictability of sports involving young people.
When I began following soccer--a sport I never played, because it wasn't introduced into my high school until the end of my senior year--around World Cup time more closely, I heard repeatedly from soccer pundits and aficionados, "Soccer is a cruel sport." It seems a little overplayed, but I get the point: You can outplay the other team for the whole game, and still lose 1-0 on one mistake or letdown.
In basketball, generally, a better team can enforce its will on an inferior team. But then again, if the better team comes in cocky, or has an off-night, anything can happen. That's why we play the game--we don't go off predictions.
We love our sports. Because anything came happen. And it is one of the few areas of life where you go home with a clear result, a win or a loss. In my teaching job, I can put in a great day in the classroom, but no one may ever say so to me. I have to provide my own feedback. And that's the difference with sports. It's on the scoreboard.
Like they say, a coach gets graded in public at every game. Just look at the score. It's not an entirely accurate assessment--the other coach may recruit illegally, or may pursue victory at any cost, regardless of the values he teaches his athletes. But the final score is there for everyone to see.
I remember accompanying the American School boys basketball team in Mexico City, whose coach and players I became somewhat familiar with, to an away game at a tiny pueblo way out in the middle of nowhere. This is decades ago when I lived and taught in Mexico City. The referees, apparently from that small town, completely homered the visiting team and made blatantly biased calls against them. And the American School team lost. There's not much you can do in a situation like that except play the best you can and argue the calls as best you can to implore the referees to consider fairness.
Though it was unfair, no one got hurt. No one lost their family or their physical health or any of the other major issues. It was a lesson, looking back all those years, to keep sports in perspective. It is just a game. There are things more important in life.
Copyright 2015 Ed Piper
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