Libero

I have definitely found the new position that I love to play in volleyball: libero. Most people don't know what the libero (pronounced lib-bear-row) position is. For most folks, they just assume that there are 6 people on the court... 3 in the front row and 3 in the back row... and that whoever gets the 3rd touch is the "spiker." While there's some truth to that... volleyball has... positions. There is usually 1 player (possibly 2) on the court designated as the setter. Then you have some big players up in front who are outside hitters, middle hitters, or play opposite (the setter).

The problem is that, while these huge hitters are strong and powerful when in the front row, they are often not so good at passing the ball or moving quick or diving when they are in the back row. That's where the libero comes in. I love this position.



The libero gets to swap in and out with these hitters when they are supposed to occupying the 3 spots in the back row. This libero substitution is not like regular substitutions of players (of which a team has a limited number each set). That's why the libero gets to wear a different colored uniform than the rest of the players on his team.

The front row player gets a break since they've been jumping (hitting and blocking) while playing the front row. And I get to be a defensive specialist in their place in the back row... receive serves, dig down balls, and chase after tipped or blocked balls. This is why I love playing indoor volleyball - I get to dive. And since I'm shorter, I'm closer to the ground, and so I have more time to get to these balls.

My men's team here has been playing in the city tournament league. We've had 7 matches so far, and our record is 3-4. Not so great. But it has been so much fun. I'm not entirely sure how much longer this league goes... it's possible our next match (12/3) is an elimination round match. I don't really catch these details very much (either because our team manager doesn't push this information, or because I just don't understand the Chinese)... I just show up when I'm told and get ready to hit the ground.

Chinese Volleyball Team

I recently joined a volleyball team. Well, it's more like a volleyball club - maybe about 10-15 people who get together every Sunday afternoon to play volleyball. But a handful of us (including me) are slowly making preparations to form a team to play in a league (at least, from my limited Chinese, that's how I understand it... I think).

We began practices last week. It's not just... get together and play some volleyball. Our first 90 minutes are spent running lines and doing blocking drills and digging drills and getting penalized with pushups or kangaroos if you make a bad pass.

I am now on the other side of 30, and almost all of the other guys playing are college students. From their physical education classes or from teams they've been on recently, they are used to practices being like this. It has been a long time since I was on a competitive league team; I have forgotten what it was like to be in drills and do cross training. It's good, but I'm worn out.

Recovery & Exercise

Well... I'm slowly getting over this cold. It's interesting to me that, in the States, I usually get over a cold in about 48 hours. I have a certain routine as soon as I feel like a cold is coming on - I drink a tall glass of orange juice, take a hot shower, take 2 Cold Tylenol, and then goto bed. And I'm usually pretty good by the morning.

But out here... it's different. I didn't feel the cold coming on until it was the middle of the night, and it was accompanied by a lingering cough. And the orange juice here is... Minute Maid... but is more like an orange flavored juice drink. And, it's much drier here, which means that, not only do I need to drink plenty of fluids to get better... if I'm not drinking plenty of fluids, I'll also get headaches (at least, that's how it's been in these 3 days).

My energy level is up though, and has been pretty normal since Tuesday. Which means that... Tuesday evening and Wednesday evening... I have been able to go out and play some volleyball.

Volleyball has been good for my language learning. Just to learn the language terms for setter, outside hitter, serve, block, and then other things like how to call the score, call a ball in or out, or to say if someone touched the net or foot faulted on a serve... all this has enriched my volleyball experience so that it's more than just physical exercise.

These last few days, with both of us being sick... we're pretty beat by about 9:30PM, and have been heading to bed by around 10 or 10:30. I think tonight will be the same.

A Visit to the Bike Guy

It's a good idea every two weeks or so to pump up the tires in your bicycle. To do that, most people around here go visit "the bike guy" (or at least, that's what we call him). The bike guy isn't any specific guy. There's a bike guy on a street corner at least every half mile or so. You see them there with a big patio umbrella, a small cart with supplies (tires, locks, pedals, breaks), and a mat laid out on the ground filled with random nuts and bolts and parts. And usually, one or two air pumps.

Adding air to your tires is a self-serve service - meaning, you say, "I want to add air!" and he looks you and then points to the pump on the ground. Then you add air yourself and then pay him 2 mao (that's about 3 cents). Sometimes there's a basket on the ground nearby, and people just toss their money in there to pay him.

Tonight, on the way to volleyball, I biked down a curb ramp, and for some reason... the chain came off the teeth on my gears. My bike was off the chain (yo.). So, I had to walk my bike over to the nearest bike guy to pay him a visit. And I would be late to volleyball.

The bike guy was busy. He saw me, and I showed him the problem (from first look, he could tell that my bike was off the chain). But he was busy working on another guy's tire. I went to his mat of tools, and asked if I could borrow the screwdriver. "Sure. Take it," he said. So I went to work.

Grabbed a different screwdriver. Grabbed a wrench. Got my hands all dirty. By this time, the bike guy, seeing that I seemed to be doing ok without his help, took on another customer and left me alone. And about 10 minutes later... I fixed my chain and got my bike going again.

I return the tools and I say, "How much do I owe you for using your tools?"

In Chinese, when somebody says 看你吧 (kàn nǐ ba), which literally means "look at you", they are saying, "It's really up to you..." The bike guy says 你看-----, and I missed the rest of the sentence. He said something like, "Well, you look at..." and who knows what he could have said afterward (maybe "... how busy I am over here. I don't have time to take your money." or "... how you stole the wrench that I was using. This should be at least 10 kuai."). I have no idea what he said. But I interpreted it as 看你把 - "it's up to you."

So, it's up to me. And here's the big cultural dilemma. How much do I pay him? He didn't help to fix my bike. But I did use his tools. And, for a good several minutes more than I normally use his pump. Give him too little (or nothing at all), and would he get offended and yell at me, chasing me down the street? Give him too much, and would he think I'm a crazy throw-money-around-like-it's-nothing foreigner?

I settled on 5 mao. I figured... if I normally use the self-service pump for 2 mao, now I'm using 2 1/2 self-service tools (2 screwdrivers and a wrench)... so... 5 mao. I threw it in the basket, said thanks, and biked away. He didn't chase me down. But I don't know if he said anything about me to the other customers there.

How much would you have paid?

On a separate note... there were some new guys at volleyball tonight. One of the guys, who was by far one of the better guys on the court, asked me for my phone number afterwards... he said that they have a dorm team (or something like that) and he might call me sometime to play as their setter. In my limited language ability... I think that's what he said. Or maybe he said that the national olympic team is holding tryouts next week and he wanted to invite me to come tryout. Most likely, it's the first one.

Return to Volleyball

Good news. I played volleyball today. For the first time in over two months.

My original intention was to meet up with some guys to play basketball. But when I looked down in the distance, there were a couple of guys warming up to play volleyball... and they were good. So I and another guy from our basketball group wandered over there to ask if we could play around too. And they said ok. It turns out that they play almost every night. Granted, it's outdoor court volleyball (diving would be deathly; already i scraped up two knuckles while reaching too low for a dig).

But the level of play was great. There were about 15 guys... so, enough for 3 teams and games constantly running. I think I played about 6 games (to 15).... over 2 hours of volleyball.

It felt so good to play again. And I'm slowly learning the Chinese terms for all the volleyball positions and moves. I can't wait to go back. :)