Mission Accomplished: SuperPowerBottoms win gold, Rise of the Spartans V-ball Tourney

April 3, 2009 by vongsundara · 2 Comments 

SuperPowerBottoms at Rise of the Spartans Volleyball Tournament

SuperPowerBottoms at Rise of the Spartans Volleyball Tournament

It’s been a week, and I’m still on a high after the SuperPowerBottoms won gold at TSVL’s Rise of the Spartans volleyball tournament. Winning gold in the lowest pool was definitely one of my big goals for the year after this team was put together last fall, but to actually accomplish the goal feels so much better than I could have imagined. The most amazing part is that no one on our entire team played competitive volleyball last year. We came in as rookie team, and I came on as a rookie captain, and somehow we came together in time to accomplish our goal.

We played the tournament in Mississauga, which was a nice change of pace. The great thing about the facility is that it had enough courts to accommodate the entire tournament, meaning we wouldn’t be spread out across the city of Toronto.

I’m really proud of how the entire team played on the last day. We ironed out a lot of the kinks in our game from the first day. We came into the second day as the top seed in the lowest pool of the tournament. It was a different feeling for us, and I had to make sure the team stopped thinking of ourselves as underdogs and start dealing with the pressure of being the favourite and living up to our seeding. We started out playing the lowest seed, a team that had given us all heaps of trouble the day before. It was great that we kept our intensity up and put the team away quickly and conserving our energy.

Our second match was against I’d Hit That Flamer, which was a combo team made up of members of I’d Hit That and Flamers, two teams that are ranked in higher pools than SuperPowerBottoms during TSVL (Toronto Spartan Volleyball League) weekly league play. The match was ridiculously close, and we were able to squeak out a hard-fought victory.

From the loser’s bracket, Boom (also ranked higher than us in weekly league play) escaped with a narrow victory over Botox, the team we beat at the start of the day. The scare seemed to kick Boom into gear as they also beat I’d Hit That Flamer in three close sets to face us in the finals. Since it was double elimination and we had yet to lose, Boom had to beat us twice to win. Unfortunately for us, they managed to beat us the first two sets, so it all came down to a final winner-take-all set to decide who would be going home with the gold medal.

I will remember this final set for a long time to come. The first major turning point was when our middle blocker, FarmerSutra, went up and won a two-on-one jump ball. That was the first sign to me that we wanted it more, and the play definitely helped to discourage our opponents. The final set ended up being extremely scrappy, as both teams played it safe and there were very few errors. We were having difficulty finishing points as our best hitter, WideReceiver, sat out the final set (due to set rotations), and I don’t think I had a solid hit the entire set, so it all came down to defence.

The moment I will remember forever is the 22-20 point (Boom was ahead and serving). We had taken our final timeout shortly before, and we came out of the timeout doing our pattented SuperPowerBottom circle jump as a final way to show unity and focus us for our final push. The point went back and forth for a while before Boom pushed the ball into the chest of our back middle player, Stretch.

The ball bounced about a foot from where it hit our player’s chest, and I was at least half the court away. Given the score, I just had it in my mind to not let anything drop to the ground. Once I saw the ball bounce on his chest, time almost stood still as I dashed across the court in three galloping strides. I dove and barely got my outstretched knuckle on the tip of the ball. Somehow, some way, the ball shot straight up and we went on to win the point and then the match.

Now, I’m not usually one to brag about my play, but that was the dive of my life. Even the linesman looked in shock at the play given the importance of the point.

I’m amazed at how much SuperPowerBottoms has matured in the last few months. Next week we have a tournament in Montreal, which is more of a fun excursion, and we end the year with a league-wide playoff. We have a lot of work to do, and we’ll have to play even better to have a shot at the playoffs, but I’m confident that SuperPowerBottoms will rise to the occasion.

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Big Jump . . . tall, dark and bottom, hot players approached

October 12, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

What a wild and crazy volleyball tournament. My team improved so much, it was crazy. I’m super lucky to have a team that stuck with me through some crazy decisions. There is no way a novice team should be playing this good.

The most drastic decision I made was to try out a new formation mid-tournament. Not only is it crazy that we’re already playing a 6-2 formation, but I went and decided to enforce a new, modified version built specifically for this team’s strengths. The fact that they adjusted is astounding.

In fact, they not only adjusted but fluorished in the new system. We had three separate matches where we thought we played the matches of our lives, each topping the one before dramatically. Strangely, this wasn’t even the best part of the tournament.

My team, SuperPowerBottoms, became notorious across the entire tournament in all the right ways. We were known as the most spirited, fun-loving team. In fact, we received a standing ovation after we lost our last match, narrowly missing out on a medal.

It was crazy that we even had a chance to medal. In our weekly league, TSVL, we were ranked 31 out of 32 teams only just recently. This weekend, we played teams ranked in the top 20 and lost out on a medal by only four points. I can’t believe I am writing this. We are playing top 20 volleyball after only six weeks as a team.

Did I mention that no one on the team has ever played competitive volleyball before? It’s crazy.

I’m going to take a nap. Bye for now.

VS

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Big Jump . . . recovery day after a grueling day one

October 12, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

What a day. After breakfast, we went straight to the tournament. We arrived late and missed practice. This was especially troublesome as I wanted to implement minor changes to our formation.

All turned out well as we saved the new formation for our second game. We are ranked fourth out of five teams tomorrow and have a great chance for a medal.

I am astounded with how quickly my team, made up entirely of novices, adjusts to strategy changes. I have thrown very complicated formations at them and they take maybe one game to adjust.

For dinner we went to the tournament banquet. We were so hungry that we danced on stage to move ahead in the lineup for food. It was totally worth it.

VS

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Big Jump . . . wandering at night around Montreal is fun

October 11, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

Taking a suggestion from a Facebook friend, I decided to end my restlessness by taking a walk in downtown Montreal. This may not have been the best idea as I’ve run into a number of shady characters. I guess I’m not too worried. I did grow up in the ghetto after all.

It’s now 6:00 a.m. I used my new iPhone GPS to map my way to the closest Chez Cora. I LOVE the food here.

My food is coming. Bye for now.

VS

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Big Jump . . . awake and alone in my hotel washroom

October 11, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

The drive to Montreal was fabulous and fierce. The conversations ranged from volleyball to sex to cheese.

Team registration was at a strip club that was chock full of hotties for those into the beefy type. As always, my friends are urging me to “seal the deal.” Lately I’ve been known as the Hopeless Ho.

This nickname stems from my unbroken streak of celibacy since moving to Toronto. I go as far as bringing people home, but then it usually ends in cuddling. I don’t know what it is, but there is a mental hump I can’t seem to get over.

I always thought I was a relationship guy, but right now my career takes priority. This wouldn’t be so terrible except that I am hopeless with single sex and am now celibate. If only I could find some middle ground.

I have probably said too much but it is 5:00 a.m. In Montreal and I can’t get to sleep. I am writing this from my hotel washroom so I won’t wake my teammates.

I hope I will be alert for today’s tournament. I’m nervous to be captaining a team at a major tournament for the first time.

I’ll update as the tourney progresses.

VS

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Big Jump . . . and we’re off to Montreal with SuperPowerBottoms

October 10, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

I am on my way to the Big Jump tournament in Montreal with my gay volleyball team, SuperPowerBottoms.

I’m riding in the car with Luke, nicknamed SizeQueenDiva. My team nickname is HopOnTop. Also in the car is Khamla, BlackHole, and Ryan, “Versatile.” We’re meeting the rest of the team at the hotel tonight.

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