The End Of An Era - A Tribute To My Brother

When I was 14 years old, a friend of mine convinced me to try out for the high school volleyball team. I hadn't really ever played before, and really wanted to play tennis. Nevertheless, it was definitely one of the better decisions I made in high school. My brother was almost six years old when I started playing, and that started the beginning of his volleyball era. Michael was enthralled with the sport. He became somewhat of a team mascot. He would shag balls for us during pre-game warm-ups.  Everyone on the team knew him, coaches included. We nicknamed him "Shag," and made a T-shirt for him (which looked more like a dress because it was so big).  Even though Michael didn't really have a choice on whether or not to attend a game, he was always happy to be there.  It was pretty special for me to have my little brother always at the games and rooting for us.

I got married when Michael started high school and did not attend near the amount of games he attended for me. When he was a senior in high school, I was able to get job coaching the JV boys volleyball team at his school. Truth be told, the motivation behind that was to get to hang with him more. We may have heckled and argued a bunch - but hey, we're brothers!

Now, Michael is a senior in college, and last night I had the opportunity to watch him play volleyball at the semi-finals of the national tournament in Iowa.  I haven't been to as many of Michael's college games as I would like, but I'm glad I didn't miss this one, because it was his last.  Michael and I have always been competitive, and seeing as how he has won a national title two years ago, I guess I can admit that he is a better volleyball player than me.  I'm proud of my brother. He's been playing volleyball for at least 10 years. That's a long time to commit to something. 

So Michael, I'm proud of you. You played a great game last night. It's a bummer that I'm not watching another game instead of writing this, but I'm glad I made it out.

I love you brother,

Eric