Carolina Islanders 12 Black 2010 - carolinaislanders12black2010

12 Black takes AOVC Challege!!!

12 Black did it again....Played like Champs and won the Gold Division Championship at this weekend's tournament at the Lugoff-Elgin High School.

This time we had everyone there, no one left sick, no one had an injury, no balls were bumped onto the rooftop, and no one made mistakes. This was my husband's first tournament of this season to watch and he said the other teams made many, many mistakes - but not our girls. And I must share my husband's comment ...he said "Not only can our girls beat everyone here at volleyball, they can beat everyone here in a beauty or fitness contest"...The girls do look sporty.

With win after win, we went into the Gold Division again and left undefeated. 12 Black really crushed everyone in the playoffs. We took home another T-shirt and a big smile.

Next week...Charlotte, for the Palmetto Regional Championship!!!

Suzanne

March 13 Blowout / CSRA Heat 13's

CSRA Heat or March Blowout –whatever you want to call it, our girls Rocked! We travelled once again to the Greenville area…I think we knew what NOT to do this time as each of us managed the detour much better this weekend.

We met around 7pm on Friday and had a nice Italian dinner at Macaroni Grill. The following morning we caravanned to the gym wearing the blue jersey over the long sleeved white one. We experienced a few obstacles, with Coach Pam having to coach both our team and the 13 Blue…then Ashley coming down with an extremely high temperature, but we kept it together and played like pros.

Our 12 Black team took on all 13’s this weekend, and with win after win, we moved into the Gold Division. Once there, our winning streak continued until we were matched up to play 13 Magnum Red. They were tough, they were tall…they were good. We were good too – in the end, we came in second in the Gold and were awarded a championship T-shirt.

All the parents were so amazed at how well the team played. Aside from their size, they looked like a high school team, many said. These girls are becoming quite talented and they have really gotten to a point that they just know what each team member is doing and are ready to react. The passes, sets and hits are spot-on. The serves are awesome, and many times they are non-receivable. Way to go Islanders! Let’s take home another winning T-shirt next week!!!

And an update on the Southern Classic from our team journalist, Beth.....

What a trip! All of you who decided not to take the detour before Clinton better remember not to do that again! I-85 on Friday afternoon in Greenville is a nightmare similar to the Cooper River Bridge....just don't go there moms! I-385 was smooth sail'in for the Stuckey's!

Lots of fun at the hotel and California Dreaming. After a great meal with all of you fun people, I decided to hunker down in the room and listen to James snore as some of you stayed with the pajama-clad girls in the lobby! It's great that the parents can tag-team like that! There was so much to talk about after Coach Pam decided that the girls must go with the white-'sheer' jerseys! The lobby was abuzz! OMG....the girls were beside themselves as Coach Pam's phone buzzed with texts till 11:00 p.m. Even though she tried to prevail, Coach Pam finally made the decision and the whole group of parents and girls breathed a sigh of relief as they ran to their bags to cover up with the black jerseys! Whew! Thank goodness. Thanks Coach Pam!! Your decision helped the girls concentrate on their game!!!

And that they did! It was a long day at a very good facility! I loved having the tables and chairs already in place, lots of space and a great area to congregate. Good job securing our table! As usual, we had the best table.....it's always nice to start the day off with a win...HaHa! The day was full of action. Some moms got to exercise on the track...it was beautiful outside! The girls had great focus all day with games that were very challenging and games that were not so challenging. They rose to each occasion! And then........the Gold Championship!

We are all so proud of you girls! I don't know if you could tell, but the moms and dads were yelling for you with all of our might!! We even did 2 cheers....no motions of course, just the words! "Let's go Islanders, let's go" and "Here we go Islanders, Here we go"!!! We really wanted ya'll to beat that Club South team....and you did! On their home court, in their territory, at their sponsored tournament....sweet!!! Way to go Coach Pam! Congratulations to you too!!!

Let's do it again! Look out Greenville....here comes the Islanders!!!! Beth Stuckey

March 5/6 Southern Classic, Greenville, SC

WE WON!!!!

Go 12 Black!!!

It was a long ride up with the detour and traffic and a long and late ride back...but we all had smiles on our faces with our big win. 12 Black took the championship from Club South, who was the host of this tournament. As long as Pam remembers, this is the first time Club South has NOT won at this tournament. Way to go Islanders!

The girls had some sweet serves, great sets, and unbeleivable spikes! They are looking so amazing together, what a team!

First big win...and we have the T-shirts to prove it! Next big win...next week!!!!

Sets Challenge Feb 20th, 2010

We came, we saw, we kicked some OLDER volleyball butt! And when I say older, I mean we had one game where we beat a 14 level team! Wow. Our girls started off hot...with win after win (against 13s) ...of the three courts, we were somehow ranked and played on the toughest court - the one that included a 14s team. If you dont know which one was the 14s, they were the ones who were taller than all the parents and had quite a bit of make-up on ! We did very well though. We served it up, we spiked it over and we stuffed it! We even experienced our first 'medical time out'. No one seemed to know how long a medical time out should be. Bridget took one for the team - literally - in the throat. A ball with high speed and power slammed into the front of her neck. We could all tell it was extremely painful. Luckily, her dad, who is a doctor was on hand and walked out to the court and took her outside. There was silence as the 5 remaining girls waited and prayed their teammate was ok. Bridget made it back to the court, shook it off and like any impressive athelete, she shook it off and got back in there and rallied. We are so proud of her!!!

Oddly, when it was time to go to the finals (gold, silver and bronze) we had to pack up and move to another gym location a few miles down the street. We were playing for Silver. We were at the finals (Paul's famous quote)...but unfortunately didnt win it. We did get to see Coach Pam sporting a lovely set of two pony tails though! She told me "no pictures" and I honored her wish for fear my child would benched had I snapped a shot. Well, that and the fact that my camera had run out of batteries at that time !

It was a long but fun day, the 6 girls held their own and we are very proud of them. It is amazing that of our six, three are only 11 and the other three are just 12 and we went up against some much older and taller girls, and beat many of them.

Feb 6, Plex Challenge, Lugoff-Elgin HS

Our girls donned their blue jerseys and rocked it out in a level 13 for this tournament.

It wasnt always easy, when the competition at times was more than a foot taller than most of our team, but our girls held their own and made us proud.

Wow, for a team of 11 and 12 year old girls, they finished 3rd in the 13's !!!!!

Next time we even face one team of 14's...Bring it ON!!!

Simpsonville Tournament....

I am so proud of our girls. They played amazingly! I have never seen a group come together and 'talk' so much on the court and they played the heck out of each position they were in at the time. I saw each one of them make numerous 'saves'...where we thought we'd surely lose the point and someone would hustle and get that third shot over the net for a score.

I never saw a ball 'drop' in an empty hole, probably due to the awesome calling skills on the court, mine mine mine...I got it, I got it, I got it.... And the serves were super!!! I literally had chills from the great plays and almost had tears in my eyes a few times from being so proud of them. Way to go girls!!!!!

Simpsonville Tournament

Let’s caravan!!! Many emails dart back and forth the week before the tournament with no final decision of who is riding with who, who is driving, when are we leaving, where are we meeting and are we going to eat supper on the way or when we get there?!!! Until finally…..the one and only “father of reason”, aka Paul Harrison, emails us with a mind-blowing suggestion…..whoever is going on the trip and wants to caravan, meet at the Wingate Hotel at 4:30p.m. on Friday afternoon! Complete with directions and everything! So simple yet so intuitive!! How does he do it? Brilliant! (Coach Pam has already blown us off because we frustrated her to no end with our emails and she has decided to make it to Simpsonville on her own!! Can’t blame her….HAHA)

The caravan consisted of… the Stuckey mobile carrying Hope, Mr. Harrison who is still amazingly on-the-ball with his GPS, Mary Frances and James complete with Islander window-chalk décor, the Tunney-family-gas-guzzler-yet-highly-functional-and-paid-for-pack ‘em-in-van carrying Mrs. Howard as navigator, Victoria, Ashley, Alex and Bridget and every blanket and pillow known to man, the ”lone driver” Mrs. Boles, and another family I did not know who has a child on another Islanders team. We round up and head out with the Stuckey mobile in the lead….Mr. navigating most efficiently.

The trip was pleasant and surprisingly uneventful since we had to detour to Simpsonville as I-385 is under construction and closed! We made one stop at a gas station to let the Tunney family van catch up with us since they made a pit stop at a rest area….after we had all passed it!!! We’ll let her slide this time!

The game plan was in full force and we were feeling much better about our communication skills and made a democratic decision via cell phones to go straight to the Ruby Tuesdays in Simpsonville to eat supper before we checked into the hotel. It feels good when a plan comes together!!! We walked in the restaurant in full Islander regalia and took over ¼ of the space….every booth in one section!! After all, we want everyone to know the the Islanders 12 Black have arrived and watch out!!! Mrs. Brazell and Coach Pam were called and came to meet us. All 6 girls sat together in one booth and moms and dads filled in other booths. We ordered, ate and everyone had fun. Coach Pam was the social butterfly, flitting from table to table, making sure we had our marching orders for the next morning!

We left the restaurant with everyone but James excited and wide awake….by the way, James never woke up as I carried him from the car, into the hotel, changed him into pajamas and into bed and under the covers. Wish I could sleep that hard!! The girls quickly changed into their pajamas and invaded the halls of the hotel. I knew they were up to something when Mary Frances came into my room asking for the window chalk, which I had conveniently brought on the trip!! With lots of giggles and toilet paper in tow, mothers and father Harrison, ran for their cameras and watched in awe as coach Pam’s car was turned into a masterpiece of graffiti and toilet paper!!! Hot Mama was penned and “coined” right there in the parking lot! We have pictures to prove it! What’s a weekend away without a good prank!

The girls continue their excitement back in the rooms as they decide to have a dance party.
All the moms are now hold-up in the Stuckey room solving the problems of the world as across the hall the girls turn a room on the 3^rd floor into a dance floor!

We had to call the party to a close and with much moaning and “awe moms, just 5 more minutes”, the battle cries fell on deaf ears and we dispersed the group to their beds….us too!

Instructions for breakfast were to meet and eat at 7:15 a.m. Revelry came at 6:30 a.m. and everyone was downstairs for breakfast……early…except the Stuckeys! What’s up with that! The Stuckey’s arrive at 7:15 a.m. and Coach Pam is ready to round up and get to the gym!! So we, the got-there-when-we-were-supposed-to-Stuckeys have to cram down our breakfast, get our stuff from our room and get into our car in a matter of 10 minutes! Thanks goodness I had the father of reason riding with me…..so Mary Frances and Hope rode with the other girls and Mr. Harrison stayed and waited on James and me to get our act together, pack my car and ride over the gym! Whew! I’ll know better next time!

The and Rec is really nice. The 12 and unders were in the gym which had a wooden floor, wooden walls and beautiful wooden beams across the ceiling. The food-table room was conveniently located right outside of the gym door. Oh!! We had the best table, bar none. Every other team mom and dad were envying our cute table cloth, centerpiece and our array of yummy food! Even though some people tried to outdo us with crock pots, that didn’t phase us as we continued our domination of “best table”!! Way to go moms and dads!!!

The table was a great gathering spot between games. The girls loved the selections of food….however, we will take suggestions if anyone has something they want added to the smorgasbord. Lots of pow wows sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the floor, laughing and discussing game strategies, who had the coolest uniforms (us of course) and other girl stuff that the adults weren’t privy to!

The moms and lone dad, commandeered the top row of the bleachers, complete with our stadium seats! Those seats are the way to go and we learned that from Mrs. Willburger after our day at the Plex! There were not many people in the stands at all so we had plenty of room to spread out and James could play trucks, motorcycles, and computer games up and down the bleachers without disturbing anyone! I’ll have to say that he was very good and many thanks to Suzanne for riding with me to take Cathy back to the hotel and then to Walgreens to buy James a few toys to hold him over for the afternoon!!

The girls were awesome….the six of them played all day and won every game but one to make it into the championship round. They also were line judges and score keepers along with Mrs. Howard, Mrs. Tunney and Mrs. Boles. The Boles had some local friends come join us, ’s Godmother no less, and her two children and they stayed and watched with us.

We had fun watching and are so proud of the girls for their play. We played 5 matches and only lost 1 game. This led us to the championship where we played Club South. Many of those girls had “big” serves but we learned quickly how to handle them and showed them that we can beat them with our teamwork AND our serves!! They beat us in the first game 25 to 18, and we beat them the second game 25 to 23. Then came the tie breaker. We lost 15 to 10 in a tough final game! Way to go girls and Coach Pam! Awesome effort! The moms and dad had spent so much time together in the gym that day that we had developed our own version of “the wave”! It was weak at best, but you wait til next time….we’ll have it down pat and will be the envy of every girl in the gym….they’ll wish their moms were so cool!!!

We stayed for the announcement of the winner and the handing out of t-shirts…..woops! We had to give ours back as they did not have enough to give to everyone. That’s o.k. Coach Pam made up for it at the next practice by giving out t-shirts she had in storage…..just waiting for a time like this to reward the girls for an awesome effort. It truly was fun to watch them play…..by the way, we are the loudest cheering section in the gym….we love it!

We packed up our amazing food table and everyone departed and went on their separate ways back to Charleston/Mount Pleasant/Goose Creek. We all came away exhausted and very excited about the season ahead of us. We went, we conquered, we played awesome, we learned how to “come back” and we have a great season to look forward to! Can’t wait till this weekend! Thanks Coach Pam for excellent coaching in tough games!

Things learned on this trip: Caravanning is all it is cracked up to be, the Tunney van gets 11 miles to the gallon, Coach Pam actually has a pair of long pants and looks cute in them, get to breakfast earlier than Coach Pam tells you because she has ants in her pants and wants to get to the gym early, if you are the coach ,don’t leave your car “exposed” in the parking lot or it will get rolled…right Hot Mama!!, Paul’s parents travel all over the county in an RV and his extended family goes to Edisto for Thanksgiving every year and watches the Carolina/Clemson game with divided allegiance, and the islanders 12 black girls are a cute, fun, athletic group of young ladies that we are proud of!