NHS volleyball tournament: to charity and beyond

Image courtesy of Jennifer Catalano

By Emily Schmidt
A&E Editor

    Buzz Lightyear.  Spiderman.  Superman.  Captain America.  Wonder Woman.  Batman.  What do all of these unique superheroes have in common?  All of them could be found at National Honor Society’s annual volleyball tournament on May 28th.  With more than one hundred students participating in the event and thirty students volunteering, the event proved to be a success by the end of a fun-filled night.

    For the new NHS officers of 2015-2016, living up to last year’s volleyball tournament (with a theme of the Olympics) seemed to be quite a feat while organizing the event.  Schedules needed to be typed up, brackets needed to be developed, teams needed to be contacted, signs and volunteer lists needed to be printed out.  Any of the current or past officers can attest to the stress of organizing such a large event. 

    With this year’s superhero theme, nearly every team showed up in coordinating costumes or outfits.  The officers handed out superlative awards towards the middle of the four-hour event.  “All About that Ace,” an all-freshman team, won for the best team name, and “The Avengers” won best sportsmanship.  All four teams who won superlative awards were given gift cards to local restaurants, including Zoe’s Kitchen and Red Berry.

    The tournament began with a seven-game round robin and concluded with a double-elimination bracket.  Each game lasted about seven minutes to keep the night going smoothly.  Will Sambar’s team, the runner-up, had a winning streak of nearly ten games by the end of the night.  Will, a junior, could not believe his team went up against the best team in the tournament, one comprised of several senior volleyball players.  “When we beat the team in the championship it felt great, but we knew we would have to play them again, so we had to stay focused. Losing to them in the second game was sad, but we didn't care too much because it was just a fun charity event. I had a great time and everyone else on my team did too.  We definitely want to play again next year,” Will stated.

    With the level of team spirit from all grades levels, next year’s volleyball tournament promises to be another successful event for charity at Council Rock North. 

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