Intramural volleyball season underway at Peterson

Published March 18, 2008
By Walt Johnson
The Peterson Sports Guy

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- The base intramural volleyball season is about a week old, but there are already some interesting things shaping up to make this a season that may be one to remember in the competitive league.

Every person who knows about such things will tell you there is one team, Team Colorado, which is a bit above the rest of the crowd. No one disputes that Team Colorado has dominated the league for the past three years, and it looks like they will continue that trend this year.

The funny thing about being dominant is you can have a great regular season but if you don't win the championship it just loses something.

The New England Patriots would be the first to agree.

Last year, Team Colorado bulled through the season only to be beaten in the playoffs by the defending champions from Air Force Space Command.

Now that other teams know there is a chance to beat Team Colorado, there is much more emphasis on being competitive and looking at winning a volleyball title.

AFSPC knows they have the stuff to beat Team Colorado, but there is another team that thinks it can be in the mix when it comes playoff time.

That team is the 21st Space Communications Squadron, according to its coach Johnny Parrish.

Parrish believes if you take Team Colorado out of the mix, the intramural league is made up of teams that have the ability to play excellent volleyball and are almost mirror images of each other to a point. Parrish believes that the teams are close together in talent but there may be some intangibles that could help his team separate itself from the other teams and challenge Team Colorado.

"Team Colorado is the best team in the league and after that everyone else is just in the same category. Everyone is chasing them. Right now, I believe that the team that wants it the most will be the team that separates itself from the pack and be the team that gives Team Colorado a run for the championship. For us to be successful, we have to understand that we have to stay together. You are going to have trials and tribulations during the course of a season and if we can overcome that and stay together we will be a good team," Parrish said.

Being a good team is one thing, but knowing they will have to compete against a team as talented as Team Colorado and the defending champions from AFSPC is another. Still, Parrish believes this team's talent will get it to the level it needs to be at for a successful season.

"It's still pretty early in the season, but we are coming together very well. We have a number of talented people on our team and we are starting to play very well together as a unit. The sky is the limit for this team. The past couple of years, Team Colorado has been the team to beat and the rest of the league has been trying to catch up to them. However, I feel like we have the team to compete with them this year. We recently had a scrimmage against them and more than held our own. The way we played against them gives me confidence that we have the team to make a good run this year," Parrish said.