The Volleyball World Championship of the World

Summer is a great time to get out in the sun, run around and maybe even throw in some competitive family sporting events. My family does exactly that one weekend every summer, and it has become a well known tradition. Here is its story:

“Hit it again! Again!” shouts an enthusiastic player to a fellow teammate. “Now off the tree! Oh, come on! You know you can play that off the tree right?”

My uncle, the “king” of the volleyball court, is referencing a large tree that’s in play and looks over what might possibly be the greatest beach volleyball venue in the world — Turtle Cove at Beech Hill Pond, nestled cozily in Otis, ME.

In the last weekend of July every year a heap of family, friends, and visitors from different parts of the country flock to this sacred court for what can be argued as one the most important sporting events of the year. This event is known as The Volleyball World Championship of the World. The Vwcotw is a double-elimination style tournament that features teams of six people who fight for a historic trophy and bragging rights for a year.

The championship is strictly governed by one rule: there are no rules. Instead of an individual being allowed only one hit in a row, they can hit the ball as many times as they want until it goes over the net. You can play the ball off the tree, off the crowd, off the camp, or off someone’s drink. Practically anything you can possibly hit the ball off of goes. And of course there is the occasional kick or header, and a whole lot of blood, sweat, and tears.

In previous years the teams that I’ve been drafted on had trouble getting past the second round, but this year was different. This was my year to hold that golden trophy, squinting into the hot July sun, knowing that I have achieved family sports greatness. This was all going as planned until the ultimate choke happened, a choke worthy of being compared to the Yankees four-game skid after leading the Red Sox three games to none in the 2004 American League Championship series (eventually leading to the Sox winning the World Series).

My team, which included a cast of middle-aged superstars and a few younger people, had chemistry like no team I had ever experienced on the tournament day. We seemed to be doing everything right. Our bump-set-spike execution was nothing short of perfect and we were winning long vollies and striking aces, all while delivering overpowering serves, confident in trusting one another. Sounds like the making of a championship team right?

We had cruised through our first game winning pretty handily. We dropped our second game but fought back to win three straight games and made it to the championship round.

During the championship round, my team had the hefty task of beating a winner’s bracket team twice to sweep the title. We mustered out a win to force a second game and it looked like I had my first championship in the bag until the unthinkable happened.

My team was up 13-5 at one point with the game point being 15. We would let the other team claw back into the game and tie it at 14-14 (it was win by two at that point). As the other team scored a consecutive point, a long volley followed for the game point, but it ended in their favor. It was a choke of epic proportions; a choke that only the Yankees could amass. It was a devastating loss, but what are you going to do?

Summer sports traditions bring out the best of competition between family and friends and the most important thing is of course fun. It would’ve been nice to hold up that trophy for a good championship picture though.

But hey, there’s always next year right?