University Tournament

September 11-12 found us at University High School in Irvine, CA for a two day tournament. There were 5 teams in each pool (4 pools) and so on Friday afternoon WC played one match, and then we returned early Saturday to start playing again. On Friday they played Elsinore high school, which is ranked 5th in CIF Division 2-A (WC is in Division 4-AA). The girls started slow but picked it up in game 1, eventually losing. Then won game two which was neck in neck, but then lost game three. So it was WCs official first loss of the season, but it was to a good team. On Saturday, the rest of the pool play was fairly uneventful, WC winning in two games to all they faced (Cypress high, Sunny Hills, and University High). Then in the afternoon playoffs began, in which each playoff was just one game to 25, not a match. WC had earned their way into the winners bracket by placing 2nd in their pool (Elsinore placed 1st). They were matched up against the 1st place finisher in another pool, which was Capistrano Valley high school, whom we later found out is ranked 8th in CIF Division 1-AA (the big girls!!). Coach did a good job preparing the girls to play Capo, because Capo was tall and intimidating physically. Our girls came out ready to fight and to show them what they had. Capo on the other hand, came out flat and not able to put many plays together. WC got up by 5 points early on, and never looked back. Capo struggled to get their act together, and their coach was yelling, calling time outs, putting in substitutes; anything to try and get his team to work the way he knew they could. But WC just kept the pressure on and eventually won the one-game playoff 25-18. The parents were elated that our girls could pull off a victory against such a good team. We had a short break, and then faced playoff game number 2 against Bishop Montgomery high school, who was ranked number 4 in CIF Division 2-AA. They were a good team, ready to play, while our girls came out flat. Our serve receive passing had all but disappeared and we got down early by 5, and never recovered. Bishop Montgomery won and went on to play in the chamionship game of the tournament. WC was supposed to play one more game for 3rd place, but Troy high school had already gone home, so by default, WC got the third place trophy. It was a great tournament in that WC got to play a lot of teams from bigger schools and prove that they could hang with them, and even beat them. It helps a team grow when they are challenged, and there was enough challenges in this tournament to make it worthwhile.

WC 3rd place University High School Tournament

Calvary Chapel Murrieta Rematch

On Thursday, September 10th, WC officially opened the season with a rematch against Calvary Chapel Murrieta to whom they had lost to in the CIF finals game of the previous season. The girls were excited to see if they could come back and beat Murrieta after Murrieta had graduated 5 seniors, and WC only graduated 3 seniors. Little did we know before the match, that Murrieta had not only lost 5 seniors to graduation, but they also lost 5 returners that left the school due to financial hardships. Needless to say, with Murrieta's team not even close to the same team that WC played just over 9 months ago, WC easily won the match 25-15, 25-17, 25-19. The girls came out nervous, and Murrieta served first with their best server doing the honors. WC had trouble returning serve the first 4 points of the match, when they finally did get a good pass, Stephanie set Erin on the outside and she put down a great tip to give them the first point of the season. They all relaxed from there, and cruised to a victory that was sweet with relief, and a little revenge.

The gym was packed with spectators, only the likes of which we saw during playoffs last year. One section of bleachers were filled with loud, rowdy students who cheered and stood the entire time. There was a very small section of Murrieta fans, and 2/3s of the stands were family and friends of the players. Erin had a fan club of Dave Velasquez (who has helped get her neck and her shoulder back into great playing shape this year), the Sanborns, the Mers, and several high school friends. It was extremely hot in the gym that day, well over 100 degrees, so we all sweated it out together. As the match went on, and it became obvious WC was going to easily win, the cheering became less intense because we were all trying to conserve energy and stay cool, which was next to impossible anyway.

First newspaper article of the 2009 WC vball season

Today the Whittier Daily News published an article about the Whittier Christian girls volleyball team. Check it out here. Go Heralds!

Surprise Visist

Yesterday at 3 pm, my dad called and said he and mom were on there way to So Cal to pick up a bus for the bus company he works for. They found out about this trip at 11 am, took 30 minutes to pack and started driving, hoping to make it to the bus company in Los Alamitos before they closed at 5 pm. When they got to Pasadena, and were going 35 mph on the 210 freeway, they got a call that they could not pick up the bus that night because proof of insurance had not been figured out. So they came straight to Whittier Christian High School where Erin has playing her first volleyball match of her senior year. What a fun surprise, for them and for us! WC played Sunny Hills and won easily in 3 games. Another random thing that happened last night during warm ups of the junior varsity game, one of the WC girls hurt her knee and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. And so another vollleyball season is underway!

WC volleyball

Today was picture day for the teams at Whittier Christian. I went to take some casual shots and head shots of the girls and teams for the program they will be selling this year. It was incredibly hot today, over 100 degrees inside the gym and outside. The girls did great considering they were sweating just standing there! Next week they will finally get to play their first matches and a tournament after a little over two weeks of practices.

The Beginning of the End. . .

. . . the first of the lasts. However you want to say it, today our last daughter started her first day of her last year of high school. It is a day with mixed emotions: joy, pride, relief, disbelief. Time surely could not have traveled this fast. I distinctly remember a scared little 2-year-old Erin hugging her little purple stuffed Barney while seeing her older sister Lindsay off to Kindergarten. And just a few years later, Erin ran to be the first in line to go off with her new kindergarten teacher, unafraid because she had seen big sister do it and survive. Perhaps that is the advantage of being the second born: learning and watching what is just ahead for you. And Erin has done a good job of observing. She is ready for this Senior year of high school. She has been looking forward to it since her freshmen year, when sister Lindsay was a senior. Erin looks forward to having one fewer class than those lowly underclassmen, getting to go off campus for lunches, and leading her volleyball team to the goal of winning a CIF championship. Hopes are high, expectations higher, the whole year lays open before her. There is much to do in the nine months to come: homework, tests, college apps to send in, decisions to be made, practices, games, friends to hang out with, trips to take, and when it is all done, it will seem it just started.

Sabbath

It's been a crazy few months. Days and weeks go by and I find myself wondering, "What have I been doing?" I make lists and check things off the list, but why does it still feel I haven't accomplished anything? Like I'm spinning my wheels?

I was refreshed today to re-read some thoughts on taking a Sabbath. It seems so simple, but so difficult to accomplish. What does a Sabbath look like for me? It's NOT leisure, for leisure to me is draining, unfulfilling and absent of anything sacred. I need to know, not just what to avoid, but what to pursue. What can I do to refresh my soul and what do I need to avoid that whithers it? So as I ponder these things I am reminded by Mark Buchanan in his book "The Rest of God" the reasons for Sabbath and what I need to be pursuing:

"Real Sabbath, the kind that empties and fills us, depends on complete confidence and trust, that is rooted in a deep conviction that God is good and God is sovereign. There's no rest for those who don't believe that. If God works all things together for good for those who love him and are called to his purposes, you can relax. If he doesn't, start worrying. If God can take any mess, any mishap, any wastage, any wreckage, any anything, and choreograph beauty and meaning from it, then you can take a day off. If he can't, get busy. Either God's always at work, watching the city, building the house, or you need to try harder. Either God is good and in control, or it all depends on you."

Thankfully it doesn't all depend on me. God's got it under control, it's when I mistakenly think that I have any form of control that I get weary.

And a final quote from Mark Buchanan about what it is I need to pursue:

"God is always speaking. . . but we're not always listening. We don't make the effort and so fail to go boldly into his throne room to receive what we need: a word that can pierce, and cut, and heal. Here's the paradox: If we don't listen, we never enter his rest. Yet if we don't enter his rest, we never listen."