AWVP

First time for everything. Ford + sand beat a good water team, for the first time in history.

The blame falls clearly on my head. And Jared's. Mikey, Scotty, Dub, and LJ played well. Also, although many of the faces were the same, these are not the same sanders I faced in battle 3 years ago. They've stepped up their game.

Plenty of good games to besides this one. Still going when I departed at 7.

Suggestion. Riata has not exactly been lady friendly, and I detect frustration. Rather than getting in all at once, ladies should put up shirts one at a time, in succession--then they get to pick the teams, and play on good ones.

While I'm feeling down about today's experience, this was an uplifting note. Little Riata TJ was still talking bout the game I mentioned in yesterday's AAR.

Pandas are not the only one who sing tales about exploits. That is something, actually.

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Chief

Death from above! Fire down below!

interesting time sunday. i found myself getting into midseason form, which is nice.

the sanders were just more fundamentally sound. in watching a game from the sidelines, one in which riata scrubs almost beat the sanders, i noticed the sanders were just much more in tune with the ball then 95% of the ballers out there. they looked like synchronized swimmers out there. the second the ball crossed over the front line the entire front line turned around to accept the ball from their back row. all moved off the net. just much more athletic than most anyone else out there.

sad as we could have easily beat them. and we almost did.

there are a few common issues with some veteran players out there. fielding is far and away what kills any team at the riata. all but just a few players cannot absorb a hot server and get into setting position. its hitting palms and launching into the net. getting people killed.

two: setters need to turn their bodies around and make themselves accessible to the pass. i am fielding a hot serve and my setter in front of me isn't facing me or isn't turning around the receive the set. remarkably the person who does this the best if little TJ. but when he was last there the person (i want to say jared) launched over him again and almost got him killed.

third: if you are on the front wings then back up on serves. i've been trying to get that into pandas heads for like 6 fucking years. scotty was glued to the net a few times leaving (i think) little nikki like 18 feet of pool to cover.

and lastly, if you follow your previous one, two, or even three teammates who fucked up the serve then try not to fuckup the serve. just get her over!

i, for one, welcome the much higher skill set at the pool. Edub, please continue to bring these guys out. their skill set is only matched by a few water ballers and maybe even some of the rift raft can be cleansed out of the rotation too.

and agreed on the girls. however, there are many of them and many of them playing. i will make it a point to go ahead and get more of them tying up shirts (oh yeah!) and getting involved.

i was dropping dimes. 3 of my best sets ever on one game. if i am the best setter (other than maybe LJ) for the day, then we got issues. we needed a jess out there to get some more big man passing

Deerfield was a dud on Sunday. Dan, Jess, Kristy, Resident Rob, Monkey, Resident Andrew.

We played a couple games with some locals but there wasn't much going on and then it started raining.

Another ball was popped on those plants. I'm trying to get Rob to talk to management but I'm not convinced that he will. I'll try to get Andrew to talk with them as well. I'll try to tell every resident I can to let management know that the plants should be replaced. These plants can be replanted somewhere else, and they can bring in nice fluffy plants next to the pool.

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#23
My name's Dan

well, chief lost a ball on a pointy plant at riata. revenge of the pointy plants this year. damn.

who was Andrew?

Good grief. Pointy plants next to volleyball pools are no good. Even near a pool area is no good. They could rip a hole in a bikini bottom.

Andrew is from Pensacola, Florida and is working in Austin this summer and living at Deerfield. He played on Saturday and Sunday. His game in Florida is water basketball.

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#23
My name's Dan

We had a fox roaming the grounds at the office this morning and now one chicken is missing.

foxes vs. chickens
pointy plants vs. volleyballs

What is one to do?

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#23
My name's Dan

Like College said, sanders been learning. Faster than Pandas at this point.

Last time we played them, their whole front row would converge together to try to block a serve, like in indoor ball, and they never got back into position or managed to turn around fast enough for their sets. Also, they didn't try to bump anything. And their passing was pretty awesome, as were the serves.

Unless you are trying to crush an incoming serve, ain't much reason to play nose to net up there. If you're going to do so, you do it when your team in serving, in preparation for the block, but you do leave your poor back row with a lotta ground to cover.

I'll add the excuse that the Sanders had the good side--there were several plays where I couldn't see the ball and just had to use the Force and guess.

Front row on the net makes a setter's options more difficult--you have to be pin point accurate or you're going to go over or behind. Advantage blocker say I. The best option is low set and quick hit, but that is basically only possible if you're passing from the front middle position. Much tougher to do when facing a hot serve from the back row. Solution I suppose is to attempt a redirect to front or back middle position for 2nd pass rather than trying to hit front row guy on one. In this I failed to achieve on Sunday. Easier said than done.

Agreed that Jess would've been an asset. If he was backing Dub or in my back middle spot in the lineup, less problems fielding, and better blocking.

Let's hope we'll see more of the sanders. They were not the water-snubbing bastards they used to be. Dub has informed me they actually are having fun playing. Excellent competition.

Here's another idea. If a sander team shirts up, one of the more experienced pandas needs to do so right behind them, or vice versa. Then high class play should sit and wait for the BBG.

Had to wait in the sun, drinking maybe 1-2 more beers than I should of, watching their chemistry improve through play while we waited. Trust me, even in a loss, it was worth it. I'm 100% sure we can play better. I know I can, because I was part of the problem. Wasn't feeling it, and made mistakes that cost the team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO4tIrjBDkk

_________________
Chief

Death from above! Fire down below!

I wanna take on these sanders. I need a big boy game. Let's get in on!

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#23
My name's Dan

agreed dan. i think we need edub to let us know the day they will likely be present at the riata. dubs, what say you?

Well, boys, we finally found somebody who could take us on. Maybe that will rally you to the cause:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFiwYQtGp0

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Chief

Death from above! Fire down below!