Can you end a season any better?

Last night marked the finals and the official end of the volleyball season for my team, the Wildcats. Bittersweet, we arrived early with three of our players not able to make it, we stood around warming up, waiting for our beer to arrive (care of the Coghills) feeling a little tired and maybe not totally ready for the competition that lay ahead.

We were happy to see that Mike called in reinforcements and brought in our ringer, Kurtis, who not only played awesome but gave the boys a sub so that they could continue drinking their beer...in true Wildcats style. Unfortunately for Melinda and I, since we were the only two girls on the team that night, we were only able to pound our beers in between matches.

The night started off mellow, with our first team accidentally playing on the wrong court, we warmed up playing against each other (read: we chatted and drank beer).

Then came the official first match of the night.

I don't really know where it came from but our team became this weird force of competitors, where we played like we knew what we were doing and we played like we were a team that wasn't coming out to drink but actually coming out to play.

In three words: we killed it.

We won our first match. We WON our first match and moved onto the next match with ease. And then we won our second match. Not only did we win our first two matches but we won and realized, holy crap, this is the last game...the last game that will win TEENIE A T-SHIRT!

All three seasons of volleyball this year, I've been saying at each finals that I want to win a t-shirt. I want to win a t-shirt and I put pressure on my team to win and every finals we fell short. This was the first time that the t-shirt was soooooooo close and I could taste it. I could TASTE the T-SHIRT.

We stood by, drank beer and watched the semi-final match, knowing that the winner of this match was who we had to fight for the elusive t shirt. With the bell ringing to mark the end of the match, we were ready to play. We came to play.

And oh boy, play did we do. With the sun already setting behind the city limits, we played blindly and with gusto and with a vengeance. We played...dare I say, like we were in the C pool! In a clean sweep, we beat our final team 2-0, not even having to try and play a third game. All I can remember is watching that last play and when fully realizing we won, I was screaming and jumping at the top of my lungs (and the rest of my team was too) yelling "WE WON A T-SHIRT! WE WON A T-SHIRT! WE WON A T-SHIRT!"

Not ONLY did the Wildcats represent last night but when we left to collect our t-shirts and have our celebratory end of season dinner, we were informed that we won the Fun Points Prize as well! WHAT?! We won the fun points?! You guys like us? You really like us?!

I think the only thing that could've made the night even more perfect was if Queen's We Are the Champions started playing on the loud speakers. Seriously. We were THAT awesome.

(sorry for the crap picture...all we had were phone cameras to document the night)

The night ended in true Wildcats fashion. We headed (with our winning t shirts on) to Memphis to eat our weight in meat. The only thing that put a damper on the evening was Mike losing his wallet (after losing his phone a week earlier)...it took the Coghills awhile to come and join us but they eventually did and even though Mike was upset about his wallet, he still gave it his all and ate a meat plate to prove it.

(um...kids look away)

Congratulations to my Wildcats!!! We RULE the D pool, babies!!!

****

A surprising update...

This morning my phone beeped letting me know that I had a message on my blackberry messenger. It was Mike. The conversation went a little something like this:

Mike: Found my wallet
alberteenie: YOU DID?!?!?
alberteenie: YA!!!
alberteenie: Where was it?!
Mike: On the roof of the car
alberteenie: You're fucking kidding me. :|
alberteenie: It stayed on the roof the whole time you drove around the city?
Mike: Yup it was stuck under the roof rack.
alberteenie: That. Is. Hilarious.
alberteenie: AND
alberteenie: This conversation is so going in my blog.
alberteenie: :D
Mike: Shitty

CRISIS AVERTED!!

a beer league doesn't actually mean get completely wasted...

Since the beginning of spring, Benny and I have been playing volleyball as part of the Urban Rec beach(sand) volleyball league that happens every year in Vancouver. You'd be surprised how easy it is to be part of something fun, active and outdoors here on the West Coast. Or maybe not. I can't read your mind, you know.

Anyways, we've finished our spring league with our spring league team and have started the summer league with a new team (GOOOOOOOOOOO WILDCATS!) since a few of our pals were interested in playing as well. We desperately wanted to place in the same pool as our old team (GOOOOOOOOO CHEVRONS!) but I think that maybe we didn't drink enough beer or we were so gung ho or something happened, that we shockingly placed in the second to last pool (and not the last-last pool that I originally estimated).

wildcats in full form

bump, sets! (formally known as the chevrons)

Sigh.

I'm KIDDING! Our new team is great and our new friends and old friends are great and the continuous flow of WildCats(beer) make for a knee-slapping good time. We definitely miss our old team (Gooo Chevrons! ...although the "TRAITOR!" calls are getting a little tired) but we love our new team and couldn't have picked a better way to enjoy our summer at home.

wildcats class photo with special guest star: keri heese

Honourable mention goes to Beans for coming out again and again to sub in for the WildCats! Maybe next summer you can be an official team mate?! HIP-HIP! HOORAY! HIP-HIP! HOORAY! HIP-HIP! HOORRRRAY!!!!!!!!