week2

The Rockaway Beach Volleyball League was greeted with perfect volleyball weather on Wednesday night – cool but not cold with sunshine and a gentle ocean breeze. This week there was no sirocco, no zephyr, just a breeze; so put away your thesauruses. There was a lot of good play on the beach due to the favorable playing conditions. Casino Auto Body has some very tall fellows that don’t have a knee cartilage between them. Ouch. Somehow they managed a 4-1 victory over the Hibernian Bar who were sad they lost but happy that they played right off the steps and boardwalk for the first time in eons. Their scrappy play will surely lead to many victories the rest of the way. Casino emergency girl, Alana McCarthy, almost saw her first action of the year but Lauren Ganun showed up at 6:29 PM so Alana had the night off. It’s All Good won a close one against the Riis Park Beach Bazaar 3-2 led by Ole Triple Double himself, Patrick G. The victory came on “Who” night where the music of the great band played regularly from the Cement Shoes boom box. It was like being at Woodstock except a little different.

"Your Name Could Be Here _____” may never get a sponsor to put their name there if they don’t pick up their play a bit. They were thrashed by Breezy Point Lumber 5-0 and several potential sponsors did not return Mr. Happy’s phone calls. Happy birthday Alex Moule. Next week he’s buying drinks at the bar for the league. Andrew Giff may be too young to take advantage of that offer but he is not too young to drive his dad’s 57 Vette. Don’t forget your hand signals, Andrew. The weekly party at Rogers was quite successful with a nice turnout from the league. Pizza and Guinness are always a good culinary pairing and the music of the Wade Brothers highlighted the night. And for you trivia minded folks the Wades sponsored a team in the RBVL starting way back in year 2. There are fewer bars sponsoring volleyball nights this season and next week is an open night. Players can visit their favorite Rockaway haunts or just stay at the beach, whichever they, and Mother Nature, decide.

In the Beach Breeze Division Kevin C. Buckley's Sandstorms, The Melons, All American Spike Latte, Five Rock, Rincon Gringos, Team Margaritas, Apple Towing and RBNY Physical Therapy all have records between 6-4 and 4-6 and it doesn’t get any closer than that. Look for this group to be tight right down to the final week. There are still four undefeated teams in different divisions – JG Electric, Pico, Notorious D.I.G.’s and Newtown Sharks but every team in the RBVL has at least one win after two weeks. And what about DysFUNctional? Have they become functional? The have won 9 out of 10 games so far. Wow!

This season the RBVL has a lack of staff writers so you may not see anyone at the beach or bar typing up your silly team stories, which we all love. However, captains are reminded that they can have items entered in the weekly Wave article by e-mailing Joe at jmcgivney2@nyc.rr.com by 11 PM on Wednesday night. So far, hardly anyone has submitted items and your articles will get shorter and shorter each week. And that’s OK if that’s your choice. Otherwise, send a sentence or two to be printed. Maria Perez is a reporter/photographer from the Wave and she will be taking pictures at the beach each week. Make her feel welcome at our Wednesday night extravaganza. Thanks again to all of the RBVL sponsors. The league would not flourish without your financial support and is very grateful for your help. Players should consider using some of the many league sponsors for personal items. After all, these businesses supported you when you needed them; why not return the favor and support them if you need services they provide.

As a reminder, the RBVL has gone “green” and the Rules and 2017 Schedules are posted on the website. This saves the printing of thousands of pages of copies. If you have any questions along the way please contact Steve Gifford via e-mail at irvman331@verizon.net.

See you on the beach!