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April 10, 2006
let's go, bison!
Wow, I just had a pretty eventful weekend. Let me summarize it for you in a nutshell: I talked with old friends who came to visit, swam in Gallaudet’s pool for the umpteenth time, practiced water polo for Saturday’s game, went out to have Jamba Juice at George Washington University, went to the pep rally for the Gally/RIT Weekend, woke up early for check-in, played a rough yet close game of water polo, watched and rooted on fellow Gallaudetians, took a nap, went to Rockfest 2006: Vibe, passed out on the bed at 3:43am.
Well, I might have overwhelmed y’all a little bit, but that’s me. Every year for the past decade, Gallaudet and the “other” deaf college up north, National Technical Institute for the Deaf (a college in Rochester School for the Deaf), have met up and competed in goodwill competition ranging from major sports like basketball and flag football to minor sports like bowling and badminton. The location alternate every year between Rochester and Washington, DC, and this year, we were the hosts, welcoming a contingent of roughly a hundred RIT deaf athletes and spectators as well as visitors from out of state.
This year, I was on the water polo team for Gallaudet, which comprised mostly of students on the swim team, which was a bonus since all of us were already comfortable in the water. We began practicing by ourselves about a month ago, and with the presence of a coach two weeks ago. After the tragic resigning of one player due to a fractured ankle, we only had three experienced water polo players with the rest newbies. We started off slowly, learning how to tread water and how to catch and throw the ball.
Saturday finally came, and after catching up with old friends and meeting new faces, the water polo game loomed up. We sized up our enemy and figured it’ll be a close match. The RIT team ended up beating us 12-6 in a rough, exhausting game. I know that the sports world doesn’t accept excuses, but the referee of the game was from RIT and our own referee somehow didn’t show up. Overall, I think we did a great job, seeing the fact that we had more girls than boys than the other team, we were pretty inexperienced, and we played by the rules better than they did. After the game, head throbbing and legs cramping, I went over to the Fieldhouse to watch both men’s and women’s volleyball games, where we easily routed RIT. Afterwards, I knew that I had to rest up to prep for the night's Rockfest dance.
A special thanks goes to Vincent DiMare for snapping both way cool pictures!
True to its theme, Vibe, I could feel everybody’s excitement and exhilaration at the dance, with bright-colored clothes and a passion for dancing. We had a guest band and a DJ as well as a Deaf rapper and a dance-off competition between the dance teams from Gallaudet and RIT. Overall, the whole thing was a whole lot of fun, and I’m glad I went. Now I can’t wait next year to visit RIT and attend their own Brickfest!
Till then,
con amistad, tyler
Posted by tyler at April 10, 2006 9:34 PM
