To Players, Parents, Coaches, and those who love volleyball,
Volleyball is a great game and like every other game it has strict rules. Players have to possess skills such as serving, receiving, setting, spiking, and blocking. It is not an easy game because players have to hit a ball in the proper way. Double hitting, catching, throwing, carrying, or lifting a ball is not allowed. These basic rules are applied to every level of volleyball’s team. There are also some modifications of the game like, for example, Newcomb where younger children are allowed to catch and throw the ball.
We have just finished Alachua County District’s Volleyball Championship. Some teams have not possessed needed volleyball skills. Surprisingly, one of the teams got into finals. The players double hit, carried, or lifted the ball and a referee did not call errors. The other teams had to work hard to practice and apply proper techniques. How, for instance, basketball could be played if a referee does not call: travelling, up and down or double dribble?
I love volleyball. I played on the team in Middle School, High School, and College. I graduated with minor in coaching Volleyball. I coached boys, girls, and women. I was an assistant coach of the second team in Poland in 1990. Three players on my team were on the National Team.
I have been coaching Lincoln’s boys for the last four years. In the spring 2009, we won the first place in the district. This year, I had to play Bishop MS in finals. It was the close game although there was a big difference in size and physical abilities in favor of Bishop boys. The game did not look like the finals in volleyball because Bishop’s team pushed, carried, and lifted the ball just to pass it anyhow over the net. The referee did not call errors, but I remember when two years ago, they called 5 seconds serving error in the final game when the score was 24:24. I understand no one is perfect, but the better qualified referees should be picked for the finals. I received a lot of support and complements from other coaches and parents attending the finals.
Young boys, who worked hard and fell in love with this great sport are disappointed and frustrated because they feel cheated by the adults who did not follow the game rules during the volleyball finals. We lost the championship game, but in my opinion Lincoln Boys were heroes of the day.
Jaroslaw Kaczmarek