William tried a new sport this year: volleyball! His school offers volleyball starting in 5th grade but he wasn't interested until this year. My 8th grade a lot of the boys who played volleyball in the earlier years have started specializing in other non-school sports, so the team was actually down to only 6 other boys. William plus a new-to-the-school boy helped round out the roster. We had a lot of fun getting to know the boys and the parents on the team, and they dramatically improved as they played together from August through the league championships in October. They were in the finals and lost in the final game to crosstown rivals, St. Raphael's, the only team they had not beat during the year. I was really glad William had this team sport experience in his last year at the school.
I also got a look at some of the parish schools and school gyms around the league. We are one of the only schools that is a standalone building (and we're a bigger school due to having the support of 5 parishes), so our gym and its tall ceiling for those bumps really stood out! It's hard to get photos of volleyball but I tried!
At the home games, the two girls teams were good about being present to (loudly) cheer on the boys. The boys were not as gracious with their time. But I enjoyed staying to watch the girls play. They've played together longer and many play club so their skill level is much higher. At the end of the season when the boys got better, the girls scrimmaged against them to give the boys additional practice. William really enjoyed that because the girls' coach had good tips, too.
My best photos were the night I was in charge of concessions and sat behind the court!
Also, I have never seen this marshmallow candy bar before, but it was very popular!
Rosie helping William show off his uniform on one of her stays this fall! The boys playing league weekend in the semi-finals to advance to the finals
Finals was held at St. Francis High School which is a school that a lot of ASCA kids will go to for high school, and many siblings attend. The Girls 8B team won the league championship! I'm glad we all got there in time to cheer them on!
Our boys played hard and had some tough calls, but improved so much over the season! We never would have guessed they'd be in the championship game looking at how they started the season in August just trying to figure out one another.
Kind of a photo dump, so it was fun! We also enjoyed having the boys over for a pool party. Which is one of the reasons you have a pool when you're a teen! As a parent of a teen hosting a pool party, you only get to hover as you refill snacks and watch from the house. And then once their parents pick them up you can finally get in the pool and relax!
