Saturday Sports-a-rama

It's another Saturday, and from what I had on my calendar, the first half of the day was packed. We started the day with the rubber match against our nemesis, St. Anne. At the end of the regular season, our 8A team was tied with St. Anne for first place. The winner of today's game would be first place, and would get an automatic seed in the Diocese championship. To us, it was do-or-die.

Being a critical game, I sought reinforcement. I invited the entire 8th grade class, and a few others, to watch the game and cheer on the boys. The ever-faithful girls volleyball team came (most of them) to lend their support. As in all St. Joe-St. Anne games, the crowd was spirited, and the game close. Noisy was an understatement. Loud was a better description.

Both teams were aware of the importance of this game, and everyone gave their all. Towards the end, the breaks didn't come our way. Nothing seemed to fall. We lost. Personally, I think it came down to game management under pressure. We pretty much ran into a similar situation in our last  games against St. Anne. Unfortunately, we didn't learn from that lost. And I will leave it at that. Even if we didn't win the outright seed (and get first place), we still had the consolation of getting a crack at the second spot to the Diocese championship by playing the winner of the St. Edward-Our Lady of the Rosary game next week.

Next on the calendar, the 8th grade girls volleyball game at Moreau, and the winner would go on to the playoffs. And who were they playing? St. Anne, of course.

Because of the early call time, my son, James, didn't have a good breakfast. After their game, we was hungry. With us to watch the girls play were to other boys from the team (and classmates, too), Coby and Nick. We swung by Goldilock's in Newark for some "silog" breakfast, but it was closed (for good!!!). Our next option was McDonald's. Then, off to Moreau.

Moreau appeared like one big sports complex, with girls volleyball games at the main gym, and boys basketball at the smaller Garin gym next to the track oval. The main gym was split in half to accommodate two volleyball courts. Two games were played simultaneously, so you can imagine how LOUD and noisy it was. The 8th grade girls lost their match in 2 sets. And that was the end of their season. As a matter of fact, it was the end of CYO sports for all of them.

After the game, we, along with 5 other families, headed to Red Chili, along Mission Blvd in Hayward. I was starving because all I had was coffee that morning. It was a late lunch, and, fortunately, they were able to sit all 20+ of us in two long tables next to each other --one for the kids, and the other for the parents. Food was good, and the conversations were even better. The next thing we knew, it was time for another girls volleyball game back at Moreau. This time it was the 6th grade team, a sibling of one of the 8th graders. And the father was their coach, too. Since it was already middle of the afternoon and we really didn't have anything else planned, we went back and watched.

Sitting in the stands didn't do me any good. I was dozing off, not because the game was boring, but it was just the time of the day, especially after a good meal. It was just one of those lazy weekends where you want to take a siesta after a hearty meal. After the first set, we left. I had to, or I would have humiliated myself with the noise I made. As soon as we got home, I sat at my favorite Lazy Boy chair, in front of the TV, and snored away.

(Author would like to acknowledge Oakland Diocese CYO for the photographs used on this post.)