AWVP

Saturday bonus ball AAR. Yes. It’s still happening, albeit with less people. Wanna talk one pool, no waiting? This was literally one pool no people. Only us pandas : )

Who eventually mosied on in at a leisurely pace, and played at the same pace.

Which I don’t blame too much. Because getting in cold water is an challenge unto itself. Ask me how I know.

But I deployed a secret weapon to deal with that today.

We played 3-2 then 3-3.

Some notes on that.

We’re short courting the back line—3 bricks from the one true wall (which should be out).

There is often a lot more movement required than in your standard 6s, so 3s is sort of a different game that requires a different approach. Look not to whom the ball goes. It goes to thee. Anticipate and try to find a way to get there.

That being said, small ball is also a placement game. Try to hold your positions and make the other team move around. Be accurate with your passing to each other and your shots to spots. Are hard serves and spikes still possible? Yes, with some practice.

There is also a classic formation in 3s: 2 on servers side, one player in the middle on the “island”

You can shift around a little (stay off the walls) and alter depending on personnel, but this formation is time tested and Chief and Navy approved. We grew up playing a lot of 2s and 3s and it shows.

Our opponents decided to do the opposite of that formation. Wanna guess who won?

Yep. We have a photo. Maybe we’ll even get to see it. Might be the first time Kyle has been in the winners circle Polaroid.

I expect we will get more players tomorrow, but I’ll bring the extra ropes just in case.

Congrats to those who took advantage of great weather and availed themselves of extra bonus ball today: navy, Kenny, Kyle, Braylin, Angel, Erin. And Kallie as the ref.