Vamos, vamos Argentina!

Wow, I have a lot that has happened recently in my life that I would like to share. I'll tackle those things one post at a time...starting today with something that I did one week ago, last Wednesday evening.

Last Wednesday I welcomed the opportunity to go and watch some of the best volleyball athletes in South America. When I found out at the beginning of the week that an international volleyball tournament was being held at the athletic club where I play basketball, I pondered the prospects of my attendance as a spectator. When I found out that tickets cost just over the equivalent of six US dollars, I knew that I would be going to a game. The three teams playing in the round robin tournament included Argentina, Colombia and Japan. Wednesday night's contest featured Argentina vs. Colombia and boy, was I in for a show, not only in regards to the players and their talent but also related to the general ambiance of the game and other spectators in attendance.

I arrived for the game nearly an hour early, nervous that I might not be able to still buy a ticket as it was Argentina's own national selection team playing. I needn't have been concerned as I purchased my ticket at the gate and entered the gymnasium to still find it a little less than half full. Both teams were already out on the floor playing...soccer!?! Yes, I arrived to find both the Argentine and Colombian teams on their respective sides of the court, kicking a volleyball amongst themselves in a sort of monkey-in-the-middle style soccer game. Below, I've included a video of the players engaging in their innovative warm-up game during a time where I was sure they would be stretching or warming up in a way more "related" to volleyball. I suppose this was a gentle cultural reminder that there are always ways to rethink the playing of a sport, even if I've played or watched it being played for many, many years.

The rules of their soccer/volleyball game seemed to be that if you kicked the ball beyond the circle or if the individuals in the middle could touch your pass, you had to become one of the people who were "it" in the middle. Enjoy...

Eventually both teams did move on to stretching and other drills that I would consider basic parts of volleyball warm-ups. In the meantime, the gym slowly filled up with people, until it was nearly full. Music pulsated from the loudspeaker system but was incomparable to what I would soon experience with the "pep band" that arrived and stationed itself just to the left of my seating section in the bleachers. I don't exactly know where this pep band came from (i.e. I couldn't establish that it was associated with a specific organization per say), but it consisted of three trumpet players, a very loud base drum and a lot of other miscellaneous percussion instruments. They could play an impressive number of current, popular songs that I have come to learn in the time I have already spent in Argentina. Their feature, however, seemed to be the first 15 seconds of this song, titled Vamos, vamos Argentina, which seems to be a national rally cry in the world of sports, especially of course in soccer; I heard this portion of the song played by the band at least a couple dozen times throughout the course of the evening.

I realize this isn't the most well-lit photo but it shows the pep band as they played some of the crowd's favorite tunes, quite enthusiastically and loudly.

Men's volleyball has always amazed me in light of the sheer power that the players bring to the court. When a team has a chance to set up an ideal attack, your defense had better be in position or chau, the ball will be decidedly hitting the floor to end the play. This game between Argentina and Colombia was no different in that respect of players' powerful presence on the court. I've included another video below of the players in their warm-up hitting lines. However, I will note that once started, the game's trajectory was a bit disappointing; Argentina won rather easily in just three sets and after the first set, Colombia seemed to have neither excitement nor fight left in their court presence. Of course, I was happy to see Argentina win (and, while I couldn't go, they also went on to win their game the following night against Japan in 4 sets) and content to do a little crowd-observing throughout the match as well. Fans were excited, but I think they would have been even more enthusiastic had Colombia played better and maintained a higher level of competitiveness.

Argentina's selection team lined up court-side before the game

Colombia on their side of the court in Club Atlético Sarmiento

A little jump serve action going on...

Yes, some of the players throw the ball up this high for their jump serves (i.e. look at the very top of the photograph to find the volleyball).

Yeah, I'm thinking that'll be another kill for team Argentina. It was a fairly easy win against Colombia, who I was told was a rather young team.

Hopefully I will be bringing another post your way tomorrow (or rather, maybe later today, Thursday), on my visit last Thursday to the Josefina Conte teacher training institute in Corrientes where fellow Fulbrighter Hannah Dalporto is working for the duration of our grants. I'm excited to share this experience as the latest installment (Part IV!) of my Grand Argentina Tour: Fulbright style...