Sometimes You're Too Old to Play Spikeball

*Warning, this tournament has a lot of detail, because I want to remember this day. 

I love to play spikeball, and I would definitely say that you're never too old to play spikeball. But my back might say otherwise. (Curse you aqua scum!)

I sometimes forget that Karma and Murphy conspire against me to make sure I am damaged for Spikeball, so I don't know why I sign up for tournaments. Probably because I love to play. But June and I decided to try out a women's competition. It was actually a lovely day. The weather had been so terrible, the nice sunny day was a welcome contrast. There was a great crowd. You can look for us in this group picture, but only if you really want to and think your eyes are good.

The games were up at Rock Canyon park with the huge bowl. It is cool to walk over the rim and see all these nets and people. It is pretty awesome. They were almost at full capacity for that park. We dropped our stuff, checked in and found some gals to warm up with. Their names were Sunny and Megan and they were in women’s, so we would play them later. 

The great thing is that I felt all the teams were pretty cool this year. Sometimes you get catty girls or people that are high intensity, but I really liked all the women. They were nice and kind, although still fiercely competitive. It was a good mix. 

Pool play was up first. We played XX (Eliza and Lexi) first. Eliza is a staple in the Spikeball community. Everyone knows her and I see her at lots of stuff. She is engaged to another Spikeballer. I’m so excited for her. They were a good team. I wasn’t really thinking we were going to win. And we didn’t. (Don’t get excited…) Instead, I threw my back out. Yep, first game and out it goes. I was running to get a ball and I could feel the compression in my back as I stepped down hard and tried to slow down. It wasn’t twisting, it was simply compression. Wow, it hurt. But what was I going to do? We had just started. So I told June that I was injured but I would do the best I could. It meant I couldn’t get anything low or run for anything. I was almost a lump. But I did my best lump playing. 

We went through pool play, meeting all the teams. And losing to almost all of them.

*Not Church and Stokes (Jess and Amanda) - Great team. Jess is around my age and amazing. Amanda is a spitfire.

*The Ducks (Rachel and Hailey) Nice girls. I was sad we lost because I thought we could take them in normal conditions.

*Fishy Sisters (Alissa and Cameron) Young and spunky. They had good serves and sass. 

*Cardboard (Aleah and Hailey) I’ve seen Aleah at a lot of stuff. Her serves have gotten much better. These girls are young and motivated.

*Well Rounded (Whitney and Chloe) These two were favored to win. They didn’t lose any games in Pool play. They are quiet and concise. They are like a machine.

*Ball Busters (Sunny and Megan) These two were fun. They are the only team we beat. Not surprising in my state. But losing so many pool play games meant we would go up against a really good team to start.

After pool play, we grabbed some lunch. I was hurting but it was just part of the day. I usually feel like it is good to move around after hurting myself and I was definitely doing that. Later when I looked through the photos they take during a tournament, I only found one of us. Somehow they didn't catch us playing, but one lady did take a picture of us together. That is fun.

All too soon, it was time for bracket play. I apologized to June in advance. Sad to be the weak link. Sure enough we were up against Jess and Amanda. There was no way we were going to win. We weren’t smashed, but we were thoroughly creamed. No worries. Jess noticed I was hurting. She asked about my back and after learning that I couldn’t move well, she didn’t serve short to me anymore. I couldn’t have gotten any of them and she could have aced me every time, but she didn’t. She was a really good sport. Then killed us anyway, naturally.

That dropped us down into the Consolation Bracket. The best we could do from here was 5th. That seemed unlikely considering my condition, but we would give it a go. We played The Ducks next. I was actually really happy to play them. In pool play, I knew we could beat them, so I wanted to try again. 

How cool though that before we played, Jess came over with Ibuprofen and muscle relaxer cream. She is the best. So kind and just all around amazing lady. I heart her!!

June was holding up our team through all of this, but you need two players and I was happy to say that I wasn’t a dead weight. There were plenty of things I missed or couldn’t run for and I always felt bad and apologized, but June was so nice about it. And we won! First game was 15-5. Easy win. Second game was 16-14, so much closer. (Btw, I like consolation bracket because the games are shorter.) Yay!! That meant we wouldn’t get 8th place. (Yep, shooting for the stars.)

Then we had some time to rest. We watched Sunny and Megan take on Aleah and Hailey. That one seemed like a no brainer, but it did go to 3 games. Good job team Sunny. The whole day was full of networking. That was one of my favorite things. June got so many numbers of girls that play. I met Anna, who is getting married and she told me to use fake flowers. How genius!! I talked to Mario, Sunny’s boyfriend. It was just a blast to talk and meet people. So many great people that love Spikeball.

Aleah and Hailey won, which is too bad since I figured we could beat Sunny and Megan. So we took a moment and then it was time to play Cardboard. (Weird name. I never asked them why they chose that.) It was such a close game. We would stay neck and neck the whole time. Ball exchange was mostly based on errors, when one of us messed up. We took the first game 16-14. Wow!! That was awesome. Then somehow we did it again. 16-14!! 

That means that we won the consolation bracket! We came back as much as we could. Fifth place out of 8 teams. Not bad I say. The top four teams were so good, so I am thrilled with fifth. We stayed to watch the championship. Fishy sisters upset the scores and beat Well Rounded (who was thought to win). They went on to play Not Church and Stokes and beat them too! It was so close. They went to three games. Those ladies are amazing. 

Such a fun day! We finished it off with Peanut Butter Smoothies from Roxy. Those are the best ones. I think June had fun. Our stats look horrible since we lost so many in pool play, but I will forever remember this as the day we came back after my injury. In the evening I was so sore. My back definitely froze up some more. But this is one for the books. I sure love my June bug.