Kings: Year 10

Volleyball hurts. It hurts my knees, it hurts my shoulder, it even hurts my pride sometimes. But I love it, and I don't see myself stopping the torture anytime soon. This past weekend was the 10th Annual Kings of the Gillespie Beach.

Ok, quick outline...Volleyball, 2 on 2, 8 players. Each person has to play a match with the other 7 players. The top 4 win/loss records goes to the finals, or the "Kings" round. My goal was simple...make the "Kings" round.

Eight warriors entered the day...Three time King Shannon Burch, Twice Kings Champion and co-founder Andy Gillespie, Co-King founder Scott Crank, Toby Paswater, Brian Wilhelm, Brian's friend Todd (who filled in for the Reigning King Hank Myers who couldn't be there because his priorities are in the wrong place - just kidding Hank!! - Myself a Co-founder and Two time King and the eighth spot was filled by the Grand Pooba of Kings, "Big D" Dave Gillespie. At age 56, and needing a complete hip replacement, Big D inspired the players to go out and do their best.

My first match was with the Veteran, Big D. Maybe it was the father/son doubles tournaments that we played in together, I don't know, but somehow, we managed to win. His only victory of the day...but it was good enough to leave him in 7th for the day. I went on to win 5 more matches, and loose just 1 in the pool play. I was in to the finals...for the 10th year in a row, I have made the round of "Kings".

Scott , who had only made the finals once in 10 tries was optimistic about the day, but realistic at the same time.

"I have 6 Gatorades in my cooler, 6 Cokes, 8 bottles of water, 6 beers, and if I go out early...a bottle of Vodka."

He didn't go out early. His fiery play dominated the field and he snuck into the finals in the 4th spot. Andy and Shannon rounded out the field, and the "Kings" round was set.

FIRST MATCH: ANDY-SCOTT vs TONY-SHANNON

Andy and Scott had just played the last match of the pool play together, so their chemistry was fresh. They also have years of experience playing together. But so do Shannon and I...so I knew this was going to be a close game. After Andy and Scott broke out to a big lead, Shannon and I recovered, but lost 22-20.

SECOND MATCH: ANDY-SHANNON vs TONY-SCOTT

Scott and I should have had the upper hand on this one, but my body was letting me down, and the serves just kept coming my way. I feel like I let Scott down, as we lost 21-16.

LAST MATCH: ANDY-TONY vs SCOTT-SHANNON

I thought we would win this match and Andy would become the champion. But an onslaught of serves my way, and a few mistakes cost Andy the crown, as we lost 21-17, and the title went to Shannon.

In the end, Shannon took the crown by just a few points, but he modestly declared he didn't deserve it, as Scott played the best ball all day long. Shannon was right, Scott played incredible. But the trophy goes to Shannon for another year.

In the end 8 players began, 4 made the "Kings" round, and 1 was crowned King. In other math related news, I counted 9 blisters on my toes. NINE!!

My knees look like baseballs (very soft squishy baseballs) and they feel like they have nails driven in them. My shoulder hurts, my legs hurt...but I would do it all over again...in the name of volleyball, and in pursuit to become the "King".