Volleyball

   I started playing volleyball in the Farmingdale Adult Ed program about twenty years ago. Back then, it was just on Tuesday nights and we had a relatively small but avid group. In the intervening years, there has been some turnover in players, as well as in who was supervising the class. Through attrition (or just the fact that I didn't run away fast enough), I became the "guy in charge" half a dozen years ago.

Members of the Fall 2012 Tuesday night volleyball crew

     Registration has swelled in recent years. We had an influx in players when a nearby school district shut down their Adult Ed Volleyball class. And word-of-mouth brought us more players from among those we played with at Jones Beach during the summer. We maxxed out the capacity of the gym and so I asked the powers-that-be about adding a second night.
    Though the high school gym was being used for other programs the rest of the week, we were able to start Wednesday night VB in the middle school gym in 2010. This has, at times, been a challenge, as the equipment gets moved around from season to season and finding it becomes an adventure. (Just a few weeks ago, I arrived to set up and found the nets had been taken somewhere. While the players waited, I had to drive to the high school and retrieve the nets we use there.)



Members of the Fall 2012 Wednesday volleyball group, bathed in a strange green glow. Kryptonite, perhaps?

    We have now reached the point where both the Tuesday and Wednesday night rosters fill up well before the session begins. (The folks in the Adult Ed office refer to the regulars, who send in their registration forms the first day they are available, as my "volleyball cult.") In the past two seasons, we've had to turn people away.
    So what are we doing? Adding a third night!
    Beginning in February, we will play on Monday nights in the girls' gym in the high school, taking over the space from a Golf class that had faded away due to lack of interest. Unlike the Tuesday and Wednesday night games, which can be quite competitive, we are billing Monday night as "kinder, gentler volleyball" for beginners and players who like a more relaxed game.
    You might notice from the photos above that there are a number of people who play on both Tuesday and Wednesday. I fully expect that there will be some familiar faces on Mondays as well. In fact, if we could find the gym space, it's likely we could fill the courts every night of the week.