Jacob Carvalho
October 22, 2009

The group of individuals I am studying really gives me hope for the future. If you live in Fall River and have ever driven by Maple Wood Park in the summer time, the odds are you have seen a group of people playing volleyball. It looks intense from the road; very serious stuff you might say, or “wow those guys should be in the Olympics”. But if you look closely you will find the hard truth. These guys have no clue what they are doing, let alone will they strike fear into anyone.
The first time I observed these men was from a bench near by. I watched them play and was shocked to see that in one volley they have broken almost every rule in the book. Catching the ball and throwing it is frowned upon in volley ball but not on this court. Oh no, they have there very own set of rules, I will get into that in a little bit. I want to tell you a little about these guys. It’s usually the same 6 or 7 guys that show up to play. But that's not the only people hanging around the court. There are several little groups of one or two women and there are usually 3 or 4 kids either sitting or standing. It’s weird because they aren’t running around, they are quietly watching whom I believe to be their respective fathers. These gentlemen that play are all of Mexican heritage and speak Spanish. So I can't understand a lick of what they are saying, lucky for you I have a very good imagination. I like to think they all work together some where and meet there after they get off work to relax. The men playing are the same basic size except for two. The man I will talk about now is very short and not in the best shape; but it seems he is regarded as being the best player. I really don't understand why, maybe because he usually is the one to hit it over the net. There is also another individual who is different. If I had to guess, he was probably about 6"1, which are about 4 inches over the others and about 10 inches taller than the best player. The problem was that he didn't know anything about the sport. If he did know he would have kicked some ass for sure.
Unfortunately for me, he does not so I sit through a game after game of carriers and no team work at all. The little guy seems to always be the hero by doing his patented move. When the ball comes near him he brings his hands up from his sides and catches the ball then throws it to the back of the court. This move is almost always successful; if you closely watch the defensive plays to the net it is like they are expecting him to spike the ball or some thing. As a competitive person it is very painful to watch.
As badly as they got beat by the elusive move over and over again they always acted like it was the most amazing thing they had ever seen and always yelled something at the tiny man in a playful way. I imagine they say something like “oh you bastard you got us again”. He would smile and reply with a snappy comeback maybe “Yeah, I got your ma last night”. That’s what I would say anyway.
As much as they have disregarded the rules of the game, they still have all the fun that my friends and I would have playing with each other. You can sense the comradery that they have with one another. Most importantly they are having fun and enjoying a free activity. They are just having fun even if they are ignoring the rules. After they finish any game, no matter who wins, they always bump chests or shake hands. All the families will get in the same area of the court and talk; they have even had lunch there (this was on a Saturday). Some day maybe it will be the kids, all grown up, meeting there after work. Hopefully it will be a future of community and friendship for them.