easter arrival

Happy Easter!  Thought that this picture was appropriate for this post, as for me, it obviously is a volleyball net, but also symbolizes the cross that Christ died. He has risen!  Last Saturday, we hosted a scrimmage tourney with three other teams, Gavilan College, Feather River College and U.C. Merced club team. Sideout note: U.C. Merced plans to join the CALPAC Conference in 2011-12.  We played timed matches and although no official score was kept, we scored points often and  in bunches. Serving game was great, passing kept us in system and we blocked well.  April rains have preempted our beach practices, so hopefully the weather will cooperate soon.  Easter blessings to you and your families.  Grab a cup of Joe and go!

sign of the cross

Hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter. Mia was a very efficient egg-hunter several times during the day. Now back to that pine tree phenomenon. The tree in my backyard is still catching up with spring (due to lack of water), but find one in your neck of the woods. Look at the topmost branches and you will see (or very soon see) that there are little crosses on the new growth. A little sign that He has risen again. I am excited that our class of 2013 has grown to four and I expect to sign a couple more solid players before too long. Blessings on your week and keep up the good work.

happy vernal equinox

Spring officially starts today. March has been busy here with steady visits from some impressive recruits. We will probably have another 1/2 dozen or so visit campus, stay overnight and practice with us before the end of school in April. We are blessed with a larger-than normal group of recruits and we will be looking for commitments from our MB and setter recruits in the coming weeks. While springtime brings new growth to just about everything, I think pine trees provide an amazing display of resurrection from the winter. I believe my grandfather, Bob Hope (no..not the celebrity Bob Hope, the real Bob Hope) was the first to person to enlighten me about how pine trees uniquely show the arrival of Easter. Pine trees start their new growth in the weeks before Easter. Locate a pine tree near you and you will mostly likely see the yellow shoots- like in the picture above - beginning to show. As the days get closer to Easter Sunday, the tallest shoot will usually branch off to form a cross. By the time Easter Sunday comes around, you will see that most of the Pine trees will have small yellow crosses on all of the tallest shoots- very cool sign that Christ has risen. Some of our recruits are heading to either the Crossroads or SoCal Qualifier tourneys this weekend and we wish you the very best in competition and traveling mercies to and from the events. Enjoy a cup of Joe and keep an eye on that Pine tree.