It's that time of year again!

Yes, I watch Dr. 90210.  Not obsessively or anything, but I do love Dr. Li.  I was so happy that her and her husband were able to finally have their baby!!  Ok, enough about that.

So, as I said in the subject line, it's that time of year again!  What time is that, you ask?  VOLLEYBALL TIME!  Yes, that's right, it's volleyball season out at Barksdale AFB.  I really do enjoy volleyball.  This year, I am actually the Assistant Coach.  Allow me to follow that up with a very important statement...I am not the Assistant Coach because I am good.  Actually, I suck.  About the only thing I have going for me is that I am a decent server, and I am not afraid of the ball.  It wasn't always like that, though.  The first time I ever played volleyball was about 14 years ago, when I was stationed in Germany.  It was our first game, and, being that we were on a NATO air station, it was country against country in all intramural sports. That night, it was the American's against the Italian's.  I was up at the net, and my mirror on the Itialian team was a female.  The ball is served, the Italian's set it up for the return and my mirror reaches up to set the ball and what I saw stopped me dead in my tracks.  I was about 20 years old, it was my first time out of the country, and my knowledge of other cultures was limited at best.  What I learned that night was that Itialian women do not shave their underarms.  Not It, born Itialians.  I had never seen such a thing in my life and there I stood, at the net, frozen.  It was like I had just laid eyes on Medusa and I had turned into a pillar of salt.  I was so frozen that I didn't even see the ball as the Itialians spiked it, hitting me square on the face, breaking my glasses, breaking my nose and laying me out right there on the NATO gym floor.  I was living proof that, yes, the ball CAN hurt you and I swore I would never play volleyball again.

Fast forward to Sept, 2004 and HSA school at Sheppard AFB.  Mandatory volleyball. That's right, mandatory. We did standard PT for an hour in the morning and followed it up with an hour of competitive volleyball.  When one is forced, most of the time, one learns.  I am still a lousy player, but at least now I enjoy the game.  Who knows, maybe this year we will actually win a game!