News
Tournament
The next club tournament/barbeque/potluck will take place on Saturday, September 30th. The tournament will be a co-ed fours event. Any questions that you have about the gathering should be directed to Mike McSorley or Paul Dyga. We hope that you’ll be able to join us!
We continue to add new members to the club. Please welcome the latest players, Drew West and Claudio Lombardo, to our group. Please take a moment to say hello and to introduce yourself when you see them.
New Photos
In case you haven’t looked yet, please take a moment to check the Pictures section of our club’s website. We now have a LOT more pictures of our members in ACTION! A BIG THANKS to Peter Berens, the photographer, for all of his efforts. Please note, we may have missed many players, and we have many new members since the last pictures were taken, so we will take notice and try to ensure that everyone has a picture or two. So don’t be bashful, and SPIKE AWAY!
Also note – GOOGLE now finds us on its first page with the following keywords: mission bay volleyball OR San Diego Volleyball grass.
Tournament Recap
The club held a co-ed fours tournament on Saturday, August 19th. Congratulations to the team of Afsaneh Fariborzi, Jim Penaligon, Paul Tchorzewski, and Mike McSorley for winning the event. After a slow start to the day, captain Afsaneh changed her players’ positions on the court, and the team really responded to her direction. We’d also like to congratulate the team of Linda Wolf, Claudio Lombardo, Joel Marcinowski, Chris Gilbert, and Brent King for reaching the finals of the tourney.
Everyone who played on Saturday owes the following people a “thank you” for helping with the event: Afsaneh, Robert, Drew West, Linda, Larry Majais, Derek and Opal Someda, and, of course, our tournament organizer Mike McSorley. (I hope that I included everyone.)
Next Event
Mike is planning on holding another tournament/bbq/potluck sometime next month. We’ll let you know more about the details once a date is set.
New Members
The club has recently added a couple of new members. Please welcome Andrea Chamberlin and Jolinda Kramer to the MBVA. Take a moment to say hello and to introduce yourself when you see them.
Tournament
Reminder: the club will be hosting a co-ed fours tournament/barbeque/potluck this Saturday, August 19th. Inquiries about the event can be sent to Mike McSorley or Paul Dyga. Please plan on joining us if you can.
The club held a co-ed fours tournament last Saturday, July 29th. Congratulations to the team of Afsaneh Fariborzi, Rey Herl, Ralph Davis, and Gerry Silva on winning the tournament. Gerry’s team lost its first two games of the day by scores of 15-13, then rallied to sweep its remaining games and win the championship. Our other finalist team was made up of Janett Rojas, Linda Wolf, Rudy Gil, and me, Paul Dyga. (I’d like to thank my teammates for helping to carry me all the way to the finals!)
As always, no club function could be successful without the
help of a dedicated group of volunteer members (and non-members). Thanks to those who helped on Saturday: Afsaneh, Linda, Christopher, Drew West,
Your review of Saturday’s tournament and suggestions for future events are always welcome. Please pass your thoughts and ideas along to Mike McSorley or me anytime.
Thanks.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Here is the latest news from the
New Members...
Please welcome Richard
Drew and Erik Clary to the club. Take a moment to say hello and introduce
yourself when you see them. We look forward to
getting to know Richard and Erik and to
their active participation in the club in the future.
We've also received inquiries about
membership from a number of other people. We hope to be able to announce
more additions to the club in
the near future.
Tournament Update...
The club held a co-ed fours tournament on
Saturday, June 17th. We had a total of eight teams participate in the
event. Congratulations to the
team of Piotr Gawronski, Helena Romell, Violet
Macias, and Angel Cruz on finishing first in its pool and going on to win the
tournament. Also
finishing first in its pool and making it
to the finals was the team of Joel Marcinowski, Linda Wolf, Brent King, and
Thanks to those who helped at the
event: Bobbi Harrison, Loren Evans, Linda Wolf, Rudy Gil, Rey Herl, Joelinda
Kramer, Joel Marcinowski, Mike Walker,
Mehdi Rastakhiz,
We will be making a few changes for future
tournaments. One change concerns the tiebreaker criteria, which we'll go
over at the next event. The
other concerns the food for the potluck and
the additional $5.00 fee if you don't bring a dish to pass. The Board has
decided to eliminate the option of
paying the extra $5.00 fee. We're
doing this for two primary reasons. First, we're trying to make things a little
easier on the tournament
director the morning of the event, and
second, we're hoping to increase the amount and variety of food selections for
everyone participating in the
gathering. From now on all players
will be REQUIRED to bring a dish to share at the potluck/barbeque, whether or
not you plan on eating at the
barbeque. We hope that these changes
will be positively received by tournament players.
If you have any comments about our most
recent tournament, or would like to make suggestions for future tourneys,
please pass your ideas along to
Mike McSorley or me. We've made a
number of changes already due to player suggestions, so don't be shy. And
don't worry about hurting our
feelings with some constructive
criticism. (We believe that we can take it!)
Equipment...
Despite our best efforts to get the club's
equipment to DeAnza Cove on time, every time we're
scheduled to play, things don't always work out
according to plan. For that reason,
and to help keep better track of who actually has our equipment, Equipment
Manager
All you'll have to do
is swing by Derek's or Mehdi's to pick up a bag and
you'll be on your way! The equipment bags will be available for pick-up
every day that the club is scheduled to play.
We do need a few more reliable volunteers
to help the club by taking the equipment bags at the end of play and bringing
them for play the next
scheduled day that the club meets. We
don't want to have to rely on Board members or the same, small number of people
all of the time. If you
can help, please step up and let Derek or a
Board member know. We, and your fellow club members, would appreciate it.
Level of Play/Bad Habits...
A number of club members have talked
recently to various Board members about the overall level of play of the club
and about some "bad habits" that
have crept into play over the past few
months. On behalf of the Board, I'd like to take this opportunity to
remind everyone that we don't all have the
same skill level and to please be patient
with your fellow club members. You should be calling your own
"violations", but if enough of the players
on your court are moaning and groaning
about something, please take that into consideration as well and make an
adjustment in your own "standards".
Perhaps, like me, you'll need to work on a
particular skill (hand-setting) to raise it to "club level".
There is no shame in that (or so I keep
telling myself ;-)
).
Here are what the Board hopes will be some
helpful hints on improving club play:
1. Call the ball, each and every
ball, every time, during play;
2. Respect other players' calls;
3. Don't offer advice during play
unless someone asks you for it;
4. Balls that are hand-set can have
some "forward" spin on them, but absolutely, positively, no
"side" spin on them;
5. Roll shots, dinks, and other
off-speed shots are NOT hard driven balls.
If you want to "open-hand"
receive or pass those balls, the ball must come out of your hands with almost
no spin on it or a violation should be
called. (I fear that we're all going
to have some work to do on our footwork! ;-) )
The members of the Board will be trying to
emphasize the above "helpful hints" in the next few weeks, but please
don't stress too much over the
above list. We'll work out any
"gray areas" or questions that you may have during play.
Most importantly, let's not take ourselves
or our play too seriously! None of us will be joining the AVP anytime
soon! Remember why we're at
DeAnza Cove in the first place: for some fresh air, a
little exercise, friendship, fun, and finally, a little competition.
That's it for now.
Thanks very much for your time.
I look forward to seeing you again at DeAnza Cove in the near future.
Paul
05/20/06
Here is an update for
you on the latest happenings with the club:
* The MBVA
held its Annual Meeting on Saturday, May 6th. New officers
were elected to the club's Board of
Directors and to a couple of other key
posts.
Your new Board of Directors for
2006-07 is President Mike McSorley,
Vice President David Morrison, Treasurer
Mike McSweeney, Secretary Paul
Dyga, and Past President Carmen Espinosa.
Equipment Manager and Afsaneh Fariborzi
volunteered to head our Membership
Committee.
If you have any suggestions or ideas on
ways that we can improve the
club, please don't hesitate to share them
with the Board.
* Speaking
of suggestions and ideas, Mike McSorley is putting together
a flyer that we'll be sending out in the
near future. We'll be asking
for your feelings about the club and how we
can improve attendance and the
overall club experience. We hope that
you'll give us your input to
help better the club.
* The club's
"Lost and Found" box is going to be emptied at the end of
the month. If you've left any items
behind at Mission Bay Park over the
last few months, please check with me soon
to see if we can help you recover
them.
* New
leather volleyballs have been ordered for the club. As soon as
they arrive, we'll be making the switch in
our equipment bags.
* Our old
club volleyballs, both leather and composite, will be
disposed of in the near future. There
is talk of giving them away as prizes or
holding a raffle to distribute them among
interested club members. We'll let
you know what we'll be doing with the old
balls once we make a decision.
* We haven't
seen equipment bag #7 at DeAnza Cove for quite a
while.
I would hate to think that we've somehow
lost the bag, but that's the way
that it looks. If you have #7 in your
possession, please let me know ASAP.
If you've helped us in the past by taking a
bag at the end of play, I'll
be in touch if the bag doesn't show up this
week.
* The club
held a tournament and barbeque this past weekend. Seven
teams participated in our co-ed fours
event. Congratulations to the
undefeated team of Joel Marcinowski, Lynn Smorada, Khiem Tran, and Rudy Gil for
winning the event. They defeated the
team of Gerry Silva, Carmen Espinosa, Rey
Herl, and Bruce Relaford in the
finals. Thanks to all who helped out
with the event, including Afsaneh
Fariborzi, Rudy Gil, Loren Evans, Larry
Majais, and Mike McSorley. (I hope that I didn't
leave anyone out.)
* The next
club tournament will be held in the middle of next month.
We'll provide you with more details once
the date and format of the
tournament have been decided on.
I look forward to seeing you soon for play
at Mission Bay Park.
Take care for now.
Paul
02/28/06
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Here is the latest news from the MBVA:
* Our club held a coed 3s tournament
last Saturday. Congratulations
to the winning team of Margo Weaver, Piotr Gawronski, and Mehdi Rastakhiz.
They beat the team of Janett
Rojas, Rudy Gil, and Angel Cruz to win the
event. Thanks to Bobbi
Harrison, Loren Evans,
for helping put on the tournament and the
barbeque.
* Our next
tournament will probably take place in April, sometime
around the annual club meeting when
elections for new officers will take
place. More on that once the Board of
Directors sets the date for the meeting.
* We've been
collecting items that people have left behind at DeAnza
Cove over the past few months. If
you're missing any items, please let me
know and I'll see if we can help. (Volleyballs,
hats, sweatshirts, and a
drink "cozy" are among the items
that have been found.)
* We're
still looking for equipment bag #7 so that we can complete our
inventory process. Please let me know
if you have it in your
possession.
* Mike McSorley
would like to start playing volleyball on Wednesdays
again. If you're interested and
available to play on Wednesdays this month
from 4 to 6 PM, please let Mike or me
know. If we hear from enough people,
we'll begin play next week (March 8th). We'll let you know.
I hope to see you again soon at DeAnza Cove.
Paul
02//11/06
Dear MBVA Members,Here is the latest news from the MBVA. (Some of it may be a lttle dated. I've had some computer-related troubles recently.)
* Congratulations to the team of Robert Schrader, Rudy Gil, Janett Rojas, and Angel Cruz for winning the club's coed 4s tournament that took
place on January 21. The team was undefeated for the day, winning three games
by the score of 30-28, and receiving a big scare in the semi-finals, which it
ended up winning 34-32. The runner-up team consisted of Piotr Gawronski,
Domenick, Helena Romell, and Mehdi Rastakhiz. Thanks to all who helped
"work" the event, especially Afsaneh Fariborzi, Bobbi Harrison, Loren Evans, and Mike McSorley. If you have any comments on the tournament or
suggestions for future tournaments, please pass them on to Mike or me.
* We've added a couple of new members to our group. Paul Tchorzewski and Piotr Gawronski have joined the club recently. Please introduce
yourselves and make them feel welcome when you see them.
* In case you haven't heard yet, we've changed the starting times for play on Saturdays and Sundays due to a lack of players at earlier hours.
Beginning this Saturday, February 11, club play on Saturdays will begin