For Catholic Schools Week, which was celebrated this year during the last full week of January, there was “a buzz” among students at Our Lady of the Assumption (OLA) School in Beloit, part of Queen of Martyrs Pastorate.
All week, students had waited in anticipation and built-up expectations for Friday, when the eighth-grade class would compete against school staff in the hotly contested Catholic Schools Week volleyball game.
A debate throughout the school was whether this new crop of eighth-grade students would be able to withstand the heat and win the annual game or suffer defeat like many classes of eighth grade students before them.
Pre-match interviews
Leading into this year’s game, the students were on a long, dry spell of losses to their educators with only one win in recent memory.
The students were a mix of excitement and nervousness.
One student, Lauryn Halter, admitted the reality of the game, saying, “They have some really tall people on the staff side.
“Mr. Ballou is six [foot] four [inches],” she continued.
“It’s kind of hard to compete with that because we’re not very tall, obviously, but I hope we’re going to win,” Lauryn concluded.
Another eighth-grade student, Maximo Diaz, said, “I think our team’s pretty good.
“I’m not that good,” he joked, “but I think we have a chance of winning.”
That sentiment was echoed by Bess Jenkins, another student, who has attended OLA since 3K.
Bess said that the volleyball game has “been my favorite day of Catholic Schools Week because I’ve always wanted to play in it.”
“I’m really excited,” she said, as she was warming up.
Bess added that “Mr. Seivert, our principal, always plays “We are the Champions” on announcements if they win, so I don’t want to hear that this year. I want to win and have bragging rights.”
Patrick Ballou, the physical education teacher for OLA, was ready to play.
Unlike their students, the volleyball game isn’t a once-and-done competition for OLA staff.
That experience helps give OLA staff a competitive edge, evident in the fact that Ballou hadn’t lost the annual volleyball game in his prior four years on staff.
When asked if he was ready to win, potentially spoiling the eighth grade class’ Catholic Schools Week, Ballou said, “Yes, because it wouldn’t be the first time.”
“It’s a yearly tradition to do so,” he boasted.
Winner aside, Ballou, who attended OLA when he was in grade school, added that “I love Catholic Schools Week.
“They didn’t do this when I went here, unfortunately, but it’s just a lot of fun and brings all the students together.
The game
In the final few minutes before the volleyball game began, both teams were warming up on opposite sides of the net.
The eighth-grade students were practicing their “digs,” while staff practiced their bump, set, spike routine.
Omar Andres, an older brother of Valentina, one of the students, had volunteered to be the eighth-grade team manager and took some time to walk through strategy with his underdog team.
As game time approached, noise from the crowd got louder and louder as younger OLA grades streamed into the gym with their teachers.
Some parents also came to help cheer on their children.
Among the student body, many of them were cheering against their classmates and for school staff.
Signs were decorated for both sides, and the gym became very loud with cheering as anticipation grew.
Once everyone had assembled and both teams decided on their starting line-up, it was time for the volleyball game to begin.
In the first set, the eighth-grade students served first.
The set started close, with the eighth graders winning the first few points and then the staff catching up.
Fr. Bart Timmerman, parochial administrator of Queen of Martyrs Pastorate, made a few key plays during the first set, and the staff gradually started to pick up more points than the students.
After a competitive first set, the staff won 25 to 14.
During the break, the eighth-grade class huddled around their manager and planned strategy for the second set.
The match was “best of three,” so the second set was important to win for the students.
That student’s strategy paid off at the beginning of the second.
Even though staff served first, the students won the first point — the center referee called a highly contested “lift” on one of the staff.
Serving, the eighth-grade students picked up points against their teachers.
Mid-way through the game, it was tied 10 to 10, but that was when the students began to lose steam.
The students would only win one more point, losing the second set 25 to 11.
The staff had won again.
In the third set, an exhibition set, two captains picked teams from among staff and students.
One of the highlights of the third set was when Fr. Lawrence Oparaji, a parochial vicar, felt more comfortable trying to kick the volleyball than use his hands.
The exhibition set ended when Maximo jumped and placed a “tip” over the net against a taller staff member to win the set for his team 16 to 14.
Although the eighth graders had lost, they were in good spirits and were happy to take an after-match picture with their teachers.
That photo at the end of the match brought the Catholic Schools Week celebrations at OLA school to a close.
For a student upset, watchers will need to wait until next year.
For more information about Our Lady of the Assumption School, visit school.olabeloit.com.