So,
its officially over and that time of the year is passed. Once again,
30-40 teams from the New York, New Jersey Metropolitan Area - along with
a few hundred or so other teams from various other US Volleyball
regions - descended onto an unsuspecting city and took over for 8 days.
YOU'RE WELCOME DETROIT!!!!
I can't lie, Detroit was horrible. The city shut everything down at 11:30pm. Bars closed at 2am, like many places, but there was NO NIGHT LIFE. Not what was advertised (by myself as well) Detroit. Next time, be ready the onslaught that is adult nationals.
On the other hand, everything else was awesome!!!
Between watching our region do very well in MANY divisions and age groups, we partied HARDER, stayed out LONGER and overall showed why GEVA is the BEST REGION TO LIVE IN!!!
Congrats to Train Wreck for taking GOLD ! Lead by Ali Jackson, Tournament MVP, Train Wreck DOMINATED Women's BB only dropping 1 set in four days of play. Congrats to all of Train Wreck: Cindy Stayton, Cristina Payne, Val Lang, Valeria Langlois, Caitlin Weiss, Mindy Stephanie, Tiffany Firebaugh, and Audrey Goss. We'll miss you in GEVA - and NYC - Audrey, when you move, but we know you and Aaron Zucker will have a great life in Chicago!!!
Awesome job by Dan McFadden and his team, GSA, who also took GOLD in Men's A. Congrats to Lorenzo Samin and team Super Flow Flex for finishing 3rd in Men's A as well. Props go out to Rony Gilot Jr.
and the men of Creole Red, aka 40+, for representing us in that age
group! I'm with you all in Orlando! Congrats to former Empire Volleyball
Club members Dennis J. Park and Kevin Shalley for leading NY Strangers to the Bronze Bracket Title. We keep that tradition alive with you all!!!
Now, as for Empire Volleyball Club, let's be real; we came together with less than two months before Nationals. We registered. Got hotels. Organized flights and transportation last minute. We couldn't even have a final roster until just before our first whistle Friday afternoon in Detroit. To finish 33rd over all and win Flight 1, we kicked some major butt.
Huge thank you to Kyle Birdman Burnside, for bringing in people to this year's team. Props to the those guys, Mark Ledwich, Erik Shagdar, Daniel Meretzky, Kevin Skeuse, Raymond Collins and Jordy Diaz our team MVP for bringing it on our last day. We started off the weekend 0-5. Got a little too drunk two out of four nights and then, well like all GEVA teams, made it count in playoffs. After winning our challenge match to Flight 1, we never looked back, finishing the weekend with a 5-5 record in Men's BB. We made Empire Volleyball Club proud!!!
Thank you Bryn Kehoe, for hanging out with us after your match. I know Jordy was in LOVE.
Thank you Jeffrey Ptak for hanging before your match. Furthermore, Big Jeff, CONGRATS on winning two championships this year. One in Bahrain and the other with Team Pineapple in the Men's PVL Division.
Good luck to my homie, Stephen Bracken and the Men's National Sitting Team, as they travel out to Bosnia.
All in all, this years Nationals wasn't very different to many others. We all played hard and had fun. Each team achieved some level of success or met a level failure, but still played together.
Next year its in ORLANDO, FLORIDA. There will definitely be more teams and more chances for bad stories and major hijinks. All I know is I can't wait!
See you all during the outdoor season, but I hope more than anything I'll see you all again in Orlando!!!
GO Empire!!!
YOU'RE WELCOME DETROIT!!!!
I can't lie, Detroit was horrible. The city shut everything down at 11:30pm. Bars closed at 2am, like many places, but there was NO NIGHT LIFE. Not what was advertised (by myself as well) Detroit. Next time, be ready the onslaught that is adult nationals.
On the other hand, everything else was awesome!!!
Between watching our region do very well in MANY divisions and age groups, we partied HARDER, stayed out LONGER and overall showed why GEVA is the BEST REGION TO LIVE IN!!!
Congrats to Train Wreck for taking GOLD ! Lead by Ali Jackson, Tournament MVP, Train Wreck DOMINATED Women's BB only dropping 1 set in four days of play. Congrats to all of Train Wreck: Cindy Stayton, Cristina Payne, Val Lang, Valeria Langlois, Caitlin Weiss, Mindy Stephanie, Tiffany Firebaugh, and Audrey Goss. We'll miss you in GEVA - and NYC - Audrey, when you move, but we know you and Aaron Zucker will have a great life in Chicago!!!
Awesome job by Dan McFadden and his team, GSA, who also took GOLD in Men's A. Congrats to Lorenzo Samin and team Super Flow Flex for finishing 3rd in Men's A as well. Props go out to Rony Gilot Jr.
and the men of Creole Red, aka 40+, for representing us in that age
group! I'm with you all in Orlando! Congrats to former Empire Volleyball
Club members Dennis J. Park and Kevin Shalley for leading NY Strangers to the Bronze Bracket Title. We keep that tradition alive with you all!!!Now, as for Empire Volleyball Club, let's be real; we came together with less than two months before Nationals. We registered. Got hotels. Organized flights and transportation last minute. We couldn't even have a final roster until just before our first whistle Friday afternoon in Detroit. To finish 33rd over all and win Flight 1, we kicked some major butt.
Huge thank you to Kyle Birdman Burnside, for bringing in people to this year's team. Props to the those guys, Mark Ledwich, Erik Shagdar, Daniel Meretzky, Kevin Skeuse, Raymond Collins and Jordy Diaz our team MVP for bringing it on our last day. We started off the weekend 0-5. Got a little too drunk two out of four nights and then, well like all GEVA teams, made it count in playoffs. After winning our challenge match to Flight 1, we never looked back, finishing the weekend with a 5-5 record in Men's BB. We made Empire Volleyball Club proud!!!
Thank you Bryn Kehoe, for hanging out with us after your match. I know Jordy was in LOVE.Thank you Jeffrey Ptak for hanging before your match. Furthermore, Big Jeff, CONGRATS on winning two championships this year. One in Bahrain and the other with Team Pineapple in the Men's PVL Division.
Good luck to my homie, Stephen Bracken and the Men's National Sitting Team, as they travel out to Bosnia.
All in all, this years Nationals wasn't very different to many others. We all played hard and had fun. Each team achieved some level of success or met a level failure, but still played together.
Next year its in ORLANDO, FLORIDA. There will definitely be more teams and more chances for bad stories and major hijinks. All I know is I can't wait!
See you all during the outdoor season, but I hope more than anything I'll see you all again in Orlando!!!
GO Empire!!!
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