Monkey Diaries Archive

When I was in highschool, I tried out for my highschool volleyball team. I had played volleyball on club teams from about the age of 9 and thought I was pretty good. Of course, when you get to the highschool level, the most important thing for most coaches isn't fundamental ability but size. Lots of kids sprout up between the ages of 13 and 16, consequently, coaches can choose from among the tallest and most gifted athletes for their teams. I was literally 4' 10" my freshman year. The coaches took one look at me and gave me a prefunctory try out but I could tell they were just going through the motions. Needless to say, I didn't make the school team that year. I was devastated since I played with a lot of the guys who made the team and could not only hold my own, but in most cases, beat them at every aspect of the game but net play (spiking and blocking). I continued to play on my club team but decided that I needed to improve tremendously so that they couldn't afford to keep me off the team the next year. I spent every free day playing beach volleyball in Del Mar, CA. One of the people I met was this 60-something leather-skinned geezer who had a penchant for young girls in bikinis but was the master of the 19th street courts. He taught me how to dink, place shots, serve and most of all, spike. Now, on an regulation sand court, unless you've got a great vertical and you're really tall (6' or more) you're rarely ever going to get a clean spike off. But this old guy taught me how to be patient and consistently push people off the net in order to set up short dinks and cross court spikes. At this point, I was still knee high to a grasshopper so I got a pair of strength shoes (weird shoes that have soles that make you stand on your toes which improves vertical leap). I wore these things all the time until I could easily jump 40" straight up. I could at least get my hand over the top of the net! After a year of playing volleyball, learning from this crafty old man, I tried out again for the highschool team. After it was all said and done, I was placed on the team but not as a starter. I decided against it and played for the Spot Sport club team that my old club coach was putting together. In those days, CIF (california Interscholastic Federation) didn't acknowledge boy's volleyball so all the highschool teams played against club teams and highschool teams. One tournament, my club team played against my highschool team. I was so excited I could barely keep still. The only thing I wanted to do was crush them. The match came and went. I had 19 kills in three games. I added another 22 points on finesse plays that these tall kids couldn't stop. Dinks, rolls, pushes... I owned them. After the match which our team won, the coach of our highschool team came and told me I did a good job and asked me if I was planning on trying out for the highschool team next year. I told him I wouldn't play for him, ever. That season our highschool team lost more than half of their matches and he was replaced by his assistant (who was coincidently, the person who convinced the head coach to put me on the squad as a reserve). I played the final two years and did well enough but eventually, height did play a role. Even at 5' 9", I was much too small to compete on a collegiate level. I still play, as often as I can. I played last night with my Sports & Social Club team in fact and had a great time. Not only do we win, but the people I play with are really cool. It's actually the only sport that I grew up playing that I can step on a court and play my A game without practicing. I love that.