The third day of my weekend sports spectating & traveling was spent in Wichita, KS. The fieldhouse where my Junior daughter and her team played is just an hour from home, so it was a piece of cake compared to the prior day’s drive. It was also her 17th birthday, so I was really looking forward to spending the day with her.

This is a new team for her, so the dynamics are a still a bit in flux. This was also their first volleyball tournament, so there was that. And most of all, the fieldhouse where we were has around 14 courts. I didn’t go into the South half, so I don’t know how many courts they actually had setup. Each court hosts about 5 teams, so doing the math (on a calculator, LOL), we come up with around 70 teams. Average seven players on a team, plus about as many adults and you’ve got around 1,000 people all in one building.

Since you’re at one of these tournaments from 7:30AM until around 5:00PM or later, you carry in food, blankets, drinks, and all the electronics you can imagine. To say that these events are a madhouse is such an undert statement, it’s laughable. There are so many people and so much stuff that you can’t really grasp it. Mix in the actual volleyball courts, bouncing balls, and sounds and you have the makings of a wild time.

The funniest part of the day was at the very start. I had dropped my daughter at the door and then battled for a parking place in the lot that was about 30% smaller than it should have been for the influx of people. We were early enough that I managed to get an actual marked space. That was a plus, since by 2:00PM there was a towing company onsite towing away illegally parked cars. Talk about folks getting mad!

Anyway, I dropped her and then decided that I would sleep until her first match, scheduled for an hour after we arrived. I stayed in the car, since it was quieter, and had a pretty good rest. Then I went in to watch their first games. I finally have this figured out after nearly 15 years of watching volleyball. Games make up matches. There are either two or three games in a match (at this level). I have mixed up the terms match and game for so many years it’s not even funny! I did figure it out this weekend , so that’s a huge plus for me.

Anyway, after their match, my daughter told me where their camp site was, and asked me to bring her some food and a Gatorade. He instructions were, it’s “behind the exit sign…that one that you can see. My stuff is on the zebra blanket right behind the sign”. Sounded simple enough.

Hahahahahahaha.

The photo doesn’t do the situation justice. Zebra patterns are apparently the pattern of choice this year. There were no less than 20 Zebra-patterned blankets on the floor within a short distance of the pillar. Of course, I questioned whether I had the right pillar. She had going in with a Salthawk Volleyball bag, so I was looking for a Royal Blue back with her name and the Salthawk logo. In case you’re wondering, Hutchinson is where the inland Permian Sea was during that ancient era, so we have a lot of salt deposits and one of the largest salt mines in the world. While nobody else seems to quite get it, having the Salthawk as a mascot makes sense. We don’t really mind that it’s a mythical bird. The Phoenix is, and nobody questions that.

Anyway, I stood there looking for her bag and her zebra blanket. And I stood there. I peered. I looked to the left, I looked to the right, I looked straight ahead. I chatted with several other folks who were doing basically the same thing. As unlikely as it was, there was another lady there who was looking for a royal blue backpack on a zebra blanket. I found her destination, but I still hadn’t found mine. Then I decided I would walk the diagonal across the crash area and hope to find it. Sure enough, about twenty meandering paces in I was right on top of her bag and blanket. The funny thing was, it was literally in a straight line from where we had been standing through the support pole with the Exit sign. I should have taken her at her word. I felt silly, but her stuff was delivered.

The rest of the day went well, and despite a bit of a let down in the last match, they played very well. The 17 year-old version of volleyball is a lot more exciting than the 11 year-old version. In the lower age group, returning the ball across the net is a rarity, and volleys of any sort are even more rare. In the elder version it’s really high-quality volleyball. I had a great time watching her.

Then, true to the nature of the Hectic Household, we went shopping for her Birthday presents. The plan was for me to do that during the day, but their schedule wasn’t conducive to that plan. Furthermore, I don’t ever make the right decision on what to buy, so I figured we’d cut out the dual trip (purchase-wrap-give-gift, return-to-store-for-exchange) and just purchase what she wanted in the first place. Not very fatherly of me on the one hand, but more efficient for all involved on the other.

We ended the day with a nice celebration including steaks on the grill. Not very often that we can do that in Kansas in January, but we were unseasonably warm with 67F weather, so I took advantage.

All in all, it was a great wrap to the sports-filled weekend. And it was nice to celebrate another birthday with my daughter!