Silver Medal

Second place is one of the hardest to accept. Being "best of the losers" in volleyball isn't much comfort to me. We've come second a few times in a row now and I can't help but feel ... unfulfilled.

We've had a great season, packed with lots of powerful play and the wins flowed fairly easily for us for a while there. With only seven teams in our division, we locked up a finals spot in good time and finished second on the ladder. After our capitulation against the runaway leaders Phoenix two weeks ago in the qualifying final, we had to work very hard last week and discover a way to win the semi final against MLC. I'm not even sure how we did it. I just keep referring to our positive reinforcement approach at timeouts as good "chi". To face Phoenix again in the Grand Final and take out the first set in such a forceful fashion was the perfect start.

Phoenix may have only lost one game all season and are a bunch of skilled volleyballers, but the fact that we can compete with them and win sets made me just want more out of the game. I seriously thought we could battle through the tough parts and squeeze out a win somehow. It seems that we can match and beat opponents when we're "in the zone", but we can't sustain our play at that level for extended lengths of time. That was basically our undoing and we never recovered or took the lead of a set again I think. I've been trying to come up with an answer for us to stay in the groove for a few weeks now without success.

Considering Phoenix are being promoted, that leaves us as the division's new frontrunner by default. If all our players really want to win, like, desperately want to win, there's no reason why we can't take out the title next year. Or else we can just sit back, have fun and not get stressed about the finals. Whatever.

Congratulations and thanks to any Rastas reading this.