OT: Working Volleyball

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by justacoach

Maybe Mark P can hook you up with some croquet or even tiddleywinks if you get underwhelmed!!

Not tiddlywinks, but possibly balloon volleyball. Here at the assisted living center which is now my home, we actually play this about once a week. We alternate between playing it indoors and outdoors depending on the weather. We use a large balloon, not a ball, because virtually every resident here uses either a wheelchair or a walker. I'm one of about only two or three who can still walk without assistance.

About two months ago, I actually pretended to "officiate" the games while wearing my old referee uniform. I still have it because I wear it as a Halloween costume. BTW - I wear black sweatpants with it because that way, I don't have to wear a belt.

During those games, one guy who is about 85, kept yelling at me to blow my whistle (yes, I use that too). I told him that if he didn't knock it off, I'd sell his teeth on e-bay. He shut up.

BTW - I also call Bingo one night a week and host Trivia Night one night a week. I've hosted that with 60 questions I develop each week for over a year, so I've come up with over 3000 questions so far. I really love doing it and it certainly keeps me from getting bored.

[BktBallRef]

Things that are less boring than officiating volleyball.

Watching grass grow.
Watching cars rust.
Sleeping.
A Baptist sermon.
Everything.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by BktBallRef

Things that are less boring than officiating volleyball.

You forgot about watching paint dry.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by BktBallRef

Things that are less boring than officiating volleyball.

How about watching a field hockey game, or a girls lacrosse game? I've watched my nieces play these games and there's a whistle every time one girl comes within six feet of another girl. Absolutely no contact. Whistle after whistle after whistle after whistle. And in field hockey, I believe that you can't strike the ball with the "wrong" side of the stick, or raise the stick more than a few inches off the ground. Whistle after whistle after whistle after whistle. Talk about "game interrupters", the whole damn game is one long interruption.

[Lcubed48]

Originally Posted by BktBallRef

Things that are less boring than officiating volleyball.

Watching grass grow.
Watching cars rust.
Sleeping.
A Baptist sermon.
Everything.

Yeah, but. None pay as well.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

I wear black sweatpants with it because that way, I don't have to wear a belt.

Shut up.

[ASA/NYSSOBLUE]

OK - I am a softball umpire, and have been for almost 25 years . About 10 years ago my ASA assignor started getting after me to work volleyball - : "Ya gotta do volleyball - modified (middle school) volleyball is EASSY" (imagine Arnold Stang) So, after couple of years of this, I went and took the course. The course itself is a nut buster, as NYS goes by the NCAA book, and the clinician is nuts. My second match ever, I was assigned, by myself, and both coaches wanted to start before the required 4:30 start - you have to be there at 4 for warmups. So we started about 4:20 or so - and I was walking out of there after 3 sets....before 5 p! I felt like Willie Sutton after a bank visit! Our fee at that time was about $60 a match, plus an extra half fee for working alone!

Well, eight years later it has gotten nuts: A couple of years ago, to save on bus trips, the local sports authority that schedules and pays us, decided to have the modified teams play each other once a year, with each meeting being a double match. What is crazy is that now I am up to 15-17 of these a year - at $1.20 a trip (move the decimal point )!

While it is easy, the travel here can be a bit much - we cover three counties in SE NYS, the written test is a b***h, even with it being open book; and those double matches sometimes can last a while. But still, I am never. ever looking to move up! The double matches are kind of long though - almost 2 1/2 hours sometimes...

Our local volleyball group is VERY short, as volleyball suffers from the same problem a lot of 'specialty' sports have - there are just not enough people who live and breathe the sport, who are available afternoons.