The United Nations of Volleyball

I love volleyball. I have played it, technically, since I was like 7 years old at family camp. I have played organized volleyball since I was a freshman in high school. I won't tell you how long ago that was but I will tell that Bush #1 was in office. I played all through high school and college. I played (and won my only intramural championships) as an employee at Taylor for two years after I graduated. When I moved back to PA, I joined a team and played with them for longer than I have been married. Let me say again: I love volleyball.

So when we moved to Chicago, one thing that was initially on the itinerary was to find and join a volleyball team. However, the transition to the area followed by the transition of baby #2 followed by me being lazy led to a full 365 days going by where I didn't play a single game of volleyball. Finally, with the prompting and research of my beautiful wife, I stepped onto the court last night for the first time in a year.

The local facility (I won't go into the explanation of what a park district is but just know they are pretty cool if you like doing active or outdoorsy things) has an open gym twice a week. I had heard that these go on and that they were competitive. Now the word "competitive" can mean different things to different people. I have heard family reunion games described as "competitive". So I was not sure what to expect. What I got was the United Nations of Volleyball.

I am used to playing with good old fashioned white American guys. My experience has been that volleyball seems to be a sport played predominantly by white guys. I find this odd as there is a lot of jumping involved and the notion has always been that white guys can't jump. They should make a movie about that some time. I walked in the gym and there was one court set up with, what else, white guys. They obviously played every week because the sides were chosen and some were wearing uniforms. So court 1 was pretty well taken and no one was getting on there.

However, on court 2.....

There were six guys, myself included, kind of standing around looking to play some volleyball. They were: me - white guy #1, Chris - white guy #2, Francis - an Indian, Luis - a Hispanic and two guys whose names I never got but they were Polish. Soon, a few more guys came: another Indian guy, a few more Polish guys and a Chinese guy named "Tom". So if you are keeping track, that is two white guys, two Indians, a Hispanic, at least four Polish guys (apparently the Polish love volleyball, who knew?) and a Chinese guy named "Tom". It was easily the most diverse group of people I have ever played with. It was the United Nations of Volleyball.

Now, I wouldn't say that it was the highest level of volleyball I have ever played in my life. However, for me playing for the first time in a year, it was great. But the thing that stood out to me the most was just how well everyone got along. Here we were, guys from all kinds of different backgrounds, nationalities and skill sets, playing together for a couple of hours and just having a great time. There were lots of laughs and high fives. There were no arguments (I can't say the same for Court 1) and we all shook hands after every game.

After a few hours, my body reminded me that I hadn't played in a year and I called it a night. Before I left, I shook hands with a number of guys and promised I would be back. Now, I miss my team from PA and nothing will ever replace those guys. However, I do look forward to again being a delegate at the United Nations of Volleyball.

Though sitting here a day after playing for three straight hours, being able to move only my fingers as every other part of my body is in agony, I may take a week off to recover.