In fact, the very last things I would want to do with my time after a long day at work would include "Volleyball" only slightly above "Root Canal".
So where was it written that -the- activity to do if the single adults gather for FHE is to toss the volleyball into the Cultural Hall?
I'm starting to suspect there's a revelation in the Doctrine & Covenants about it, they adhere to it so faithfully.
I suppose if I was still a 14 year old Teacher at an Aaronic Priesthood activity, that would be great.
But I'm 30 years old. I have physically demanding, quite honestly exhausting job.
And I hate volleyball.
Would it be too hard to have one or two alternatives? Videos? Board games? It doesn't have to be something special. It just has to be something OTHER THAN VOLLEYBALL. Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
I vote for 'Twister'--a game the whole family can enjoy.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Man I loved playing volleyball, especially while I was at the MTC, but then again I am 6'4 almost 6'5 so its my forte.
Posted by Swampjedi (Member # 7374) on :
I'm not LDS (I go to a Southern Baptist church), but we do lots of volleyball. It's getting rather annoying.
This Sunday was "Make Swamp Explode" aka 2v2 basketball.
Posted by Sharpie (Member # 482) on :
I recommend you start a Scrabble club.
Posted by Irami Osei-Frimpong (Member # 2229) on :
Volleyball is good because it's active, not too gender biased, and has a generous learning curve, that is, people go from horrible to passable fairly quickly.
In this regard, it's much better than basketball.
Posted by Sharpie (Member # 482) on :
Since griping is allowed, I'm going to have to say: I hate volleyball. I hate it. I am short and self-conscious and worry terribly that I'm the weak link in any kind of team sport. Especially volleyball.
(When my oldest son was five and we were looking at tee-ball, he rather gently told us that he really wasn't "the team sport type of person. I would make too many mistakes and make the team lose and it is just one more thing to worry about!") He gets that from me.
Posted by Will B (Member # 7931) on :
Croquet? Billiards? Pictionary?
Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 2150) on :
Foosball and air hockey is the way to go.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
I loved to play volleyball as a single adult, but we had a small group and we spent just about every other night of the week together, doing something else.
How big is your YSA program, Puffy? Can you talk to your reps and ask for something different?
Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :
I have to agree. My church (not LDS) played volleyball this weekend too and worse, it was SAND volleyball. I hate sand as it is but add volleyball to it---UGH! Now for our bible study group, we play party games and things get interesting. We are highly competative and we almost throw down right there in the living room. And I will never forget the time we had to draw Dirty Dancing (the movie) for Pictionary. Waaaaaay better than volleyball.
Posted by sweetbaboo (Member # 8845) on :
I'll bet there are others in your group that feel the same way, why don't you throw a deck of cards (rook ) in your glove box or a game in your trunk and if someone has the bright idea to play volleyball again, wah-lah, you have instant alternative for those who would rather.
Posted by theCrowsWife (Member # 8302) on :
It's not just LDS. When I was in high school, the (non-denominational) youth group that I went to played volleyball after every Bible study. I hated it, but everyone else liked it so that's all we did.
--Mel
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
I don't like volleyball because I'm too competitive. I have a hard time playing co-ed sports, even casually, because I find that women have a much less developed competitive streak*, which drives me insane.
*Not all women, of course. Several of my good friends from college (who, not coincidentally played college sports) are just as competitive as I am. I played co-ed intramural sports with them and we had a blast.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
Thats funny. My best friend grew up in a Mormon family, and he is obsessed with volleyball.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by El JT de Spang: I don't like volleyball because I'm too competitive. I have a hard time playing co-ed sports, even casually, because I find that women have a much less developed competitive streak*, which drives me insane.
*Not all women, of course. Several of my good friends from college (who, not coincidentally played college sports) are just as competitive as I am. I played co-ed intramural sports with them and we had a blast.
I see where you are coming from, and I agree. I got a Scabble game going with the girls at work and it just frustrated me SO MUCH that when I insisted that you need to follow the rules they looked at me as if I was obsessed with winning.
ITS NOT FUN IF YOU JUST THROW THE RULES OUT THE WINDOW! YOU MIGHT AS WELL JUST DECLARE EVERYONE A WINNER AND NOT PLAY ANYTHING!
Sorry I probably should state the offense. One of the girls couldnt think of a good use for her letters so she asked if she could use spanish words. I said she couldnt because then I could use Chinese words.
Scrabble is just stupid if you can spell out Chinese words as they have FAR more words with q's, z's and X's. They even have "Qi..." words!
edit: I fully understand not ALL girls are like that. I for one married a girl who ISNT like that Posted by BaoQingTian (Member # 8775) on :
quote:Originally posted by El JT de Spang: I don't like volleyball because I'm too competitive. I have a hard time playing co-ed sports, even casually, because I find that women have a much less developed competitive streak*, which drives me insane.
I hate coed sports too. I'm a very competitive person as well, and I'm always faced with the choice of toning down my game so I'm not hurting people's feelings, or I get to play the game hard and have fun but people look at you like your an aggressive jerk. When I play sports I want to play hard, not have an exercise in diplomacy and social tip-toeing. If I had to go coed, I'd much rather play Balderdash.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
I'm exactly a girl like that for physical sports. Matt seems more in line with the guys here, but that's why he plays basketball with his friends and we meet up afterwards. He also usually wins board games which is frustrating when it's the two of us but fabulous when we team up to play my dad.
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
Nice edit, BlackBlade.
I was going to post here that when it comes to sports, I really don't care to play at all, but if I have to (read: am forced and/or coerced into it), I don't care who wins.
Board/card/etc. games are a whole different story, though. Yes, the game should be fun, and hopefully fun for everyone, but I play to win.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
quote: ITS NOT FUN IF YOU JUST THROW THE RULES OUT THE WINDOW! YOU MIGHT AS WELL JUST DECLARE EVERYONE A WINNER AND NOT PLAY ANYTHING!
That goes back to the whole generalization that guys are more hierarchy-minded (structure, authority, chain of command) and girls are more circular-minded (relationships, everyone equal and fair).
As you said, there are exceptions.
That's why I can't play Trivial Pursuit with my mother and my son. He is so VERY competitive that it takes all the fun out of it -- and she is so VERY circular, that if he is struggling with an answer she gives him hints!
I can't stand it.
FG
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Megan: Nice edit, BlackBlade.
I was going to post here that when it comes to sports, I really don't care to play at all, but if I have to (read: am forced and/or coerced into it), I don't care who wins.
Board/card/etc. games are a whole different story, though. Yes, the game should be fun, and hopefully fun for everyone, but I play to win.
Good on you! If we ever meet I hope I have a box of Settlers of Kataan on me
What makes it worse is when the anti competitive girls starts dating your competitive friend. I just can't play games with either of them because the girl either does
A: States she is going to just pour all her resources into her boyfriends camp so that she doubles his chances of winning
or
B: Gets upset if her boyfriend does anything that damages her side of the board
or finally
C: Expects her boyfriend to pay me back for damaging her part of the board.
If the boyfriend does not do what she says she usually retaliates with something like, "Fine! Your not getting any tonight!"
But Ill admit up front I can be a pretty sore loser and so can my wife. Usually we can keep it contained by sometimes we dont, I'm still working on it.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
The worst fights I've had with any girlfriends have been card game related.
Coincidence? I think not.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
Lemme guess...strip poker. *rimshot*
Posted by Silent E (Member # 8840) on :
Is this a good thread to insert comments about the all-too-accurately-stereotyped phenomenon of LDS ward basketball?
Actually, the points here about competitiveness are interesting, and have a lot to do with my experience of ward ball. I am no athlete, and never liked playing church ball, so I only went when the team would forfeit without me.
Finally, one ward came up with a marvelous alternative, one which I wish could be emulated everywhere. The problem in that ward (a student ward, where everyone was in the basketball age bracket) was that there were too many guys who wanted to play, which meant we had to split into two teams. There was some dispute about how the teams should be selected. The solution they hit upon was inadvertently genius.
Here's what I think happened: the really good players were afraid that the poorer players would drag them down, so they wanted to put all the best players on one team, and the worst on the other. Nobody could think of any diplomatic way to do this, however, so it was instead presented to the group as a "competitive" team and and a "for fun" team. Those that felt that they had really competitive personalites were encouraged to join the former, while those that were just in it to have a good time and didn't care too much about losing should join the latter team.
For the most part, this meant that the better players, who were unsurprisingly also more competitive, were all on the same team, and were very happy; they easily won the league championship. The real succes, though, was on the fun team. Most of us (yes, I joined) were not good players at all, though there were a couple of exceptions who were good but just really laid back. We had not enjoyed church ball in the past, largely because we didn't like to play with competitive people, who were either jerks and making us feel bad for even being there, or were nice but obviously steaming and trying to hide it, making us feel (unintentionally) even worse about being there and ruining their game. Finally, we were on a team where we could all feel good about our play. Oops, did I just totally pass that ball right into the hands of our opponents, under our own basket? No problem, everybody just shakes it off, chuckles a little, and proceeds to do something even more boneheaded. We just lost by thirty points? Who cares? We obviously had even more fun than the team that won. And when we somehow, miraculously, managed to win a game? You would have thought we had just won the NCAA tournament.
I actually played in every game, and they were the highlights of my week. I soon got into the best shape of my adult life, just by running up and down the court chasing after the other team.
Obviously, not all guys are super-competitive, at least when it comes to sports.
Posted by Artemisia Tridentata (Member # 8746) on :
quote:Is this a good thread to insert comments about the all-too-accurately-stereotyped phenomenon of LDS ward basketball?
Since you already did, I will follow your lead. As an old grey Scoutmaster, I always suggest that the first "troop equipment" purchased for an LDS troop be two "The Club" steering wheel locks. Then each Wedensday PM you put one in each basket in the "cultural hall". This will improve Scouting and any other activity you might have considered for "the youth of Zion".
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
One thing I like that I can count on is that, no matter where in the country I live, I can go find the LDS church and one night a week play basketball there.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Artemisia Tridentata:
quote:Is this a good thread to insert comments about the all-too-accurately-stereotyped phenomenon of LDS ward basketball?
Since you already did, I will follow your lead. As an old grey Scoutmaster, I always suggest that the first "troop equipment" purchased for an LDS troop be two "The Club" steering wheel locks. Then each Wedensday PM you put one in each basket in the "cultural hall". This will improve Scouting and any other activity you might have considered for "the youth of Zion".
I laughed out loud. We didnt have a basketball court at our church house (it was an old colonial Hong Kong mansion) so basketball was not a part of my scouting experience. We did play midnight football though (Lights start on but turn off as soon as the ball is thrown) you have to run around on your knees you cannot stand up. If your kid plays that, do him a favor and have him bring knee pads to the games. I had the worst rug burns at the end of every game.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
It came to the stake's attention that my husband had actually taken a class on refereeing and umpiring. He was quickly called to ref all the stake youth basketball games (and some of the adult games, if he wasn't working.) He still tells the story of giving a technical foul to the 1st counselor in the stake presidency who got in his face and yelled at him when he called a foul on the counselor's son. Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I love volleyball, but I hate beach volleyball. I always thought I was unique in this.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Hate beach volleyball? Why? I love playing it 2 vs 2, not necessarily with beach rules. 3 vs 3 isn't bad either. Totally different than the 6 vs 6 indoor version. Less worrying about your position, what happens when they attack, should you take that ball or let someone else do it, etc. In 2 vs 2 it's simple: the ball comes roughly towards your part of the court? You play it, the other passes, then it's your turn again. More skill, less placement.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
Non-competitive volleyball is fun, or competitive volleyball is fun if there are no spikes allowed. Short people can be great defensive players. Easier to dig when you're already close to the ground
My church youth group often played various forms of Hide and Seek, which was awesome. People who didn't want to play would get tagged and hang out at base chatting, and people like me who wanted to be ninjas could hide in all the shadowy places and stalk the seekers.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I don't like beach volleyball because I don't get good traction in sand. So suddenly there's this sport that I know I'm good at, usually, and now I suck.
Besides the fact that the sand moves when you step on it is the fact that it's uneven to begin with. I always feel like I'm about to fall when I play beach volleyball.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
You need to lower your center of gravity. Posted by Pelegius (Member # 7868) on :
I am not LDS, but most events in my church center around eating, and drinking coffee (probably not revelevent here, although lemonade is also very popular, particularly if there are kids.)
![[Grumble]](graemlins/grumble.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
) in your glove box or a game in your trunk and if someone has the bright idea to play volleyball again, wah-lah, you have instant alternative for those who would rather.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Mad]](mad.gif)
![[No No]](graemlins/nono.gif)
I'm still working on it.
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)