My Corner Space In The Gym

Now that the fall sports are winding down, the winter and spring sports are gearing up and preparing for their debut. Basketball has already had multiple conditioning sessions, and continue to do so as their tryouts near. Volleyball is not too far behind as well. As a matter of fact, they've already scheduled a few open gyms, with the first one tonight.

Being  a Wednesday, it was my pick-up day. Since Jake and Nick had planned on attending the open gym at 7pm, it didn't make sense for me to pick-up, drive back to Fremont, then go back to Bell for the open gym. So I informed Coby's mom if she could pick up his son instead.

Before the open gym, James, Nick, and I had dinner at a Mountain Mike's pizza place close to Bell. The place wasn't fancy nor was it scary, so we stayed. I thought the boys would be famished and ordered an extra large pizza. When it was brought to our table, we were all shocked. It was HUGE. It was just too much pizza for the 3 of us. We ate half and packed the rest. We finished up early so the boys had time to rest and the food to digest.

Back at Bell, as the boys changed for volleyball, I had a glimpse of the varsity water polo match against St. Ignatius. Before the start of the match, the team from St. Ignatius recited the Prayer for Generosity, as part of their cheer. I found this quite interesting. For those who do not know, the Prayer for Generosity is a prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus.

I wasn't sure if I would be allowed to watch the open gym, so we went in early. I sat at the far end of the bleacher, close to the door, and away from everyone else. I was hoping to be incognito, but my red jacket pretty much gave me away. For the next 2 hours, I just sat there and did nothing. From time to time, I would check my emails or read the latest Twitter feeds on my cellphone. It was surely one of the longest 2 hours I have ever experienced.

There wasn't much to the open gym. It was just free play. It was some sort of gauge of who's interested to be part of the team. The group was divided between those who have not been on the team before -- the FRESHMEN, and those who've had. And these 2 groups pretty much played among themselves. Even the coaches running the open gym joined in and played as well.

It was a long night, and even longer day, especially if you were just killing time, like I was. But there's more to come. Hopefully, I don't have to sit and wait.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge Mountain Mike's Pizza for the use of their logo in this post.