Recwear press

The Gorman family was looking for something to do together.

The Rookies baseball team was looking for a new challenge. . . .

They represent the different outlooks of the 11 teams in the Sunday afternoon coed volleyball league at Glen Burnie High School run by the Anne Arundel County Department of Recreation and Parks.

Players on all three teams said that some are more competitive than others. But they’re all trying to improve, regardless of the opponent.

Volleyball is an interesting choice for rec sports because it requires several skills. Every player must have some level of competency at serving, blocking, passing, setting and digging.

The Gormans picked volleyball because four relatives in the Anne Arundel family had at least some experience with it. They took the name Wilson!, after Tom Hanks’ volleyball in the movie Castaway. Hanks’ character is always yelling for the ball, which explains the Gormans’ addition of the exclamation point.

Teams play three-game sets every week, with the first two games going to 25 and the third to 21.

“We’re a tight-knit group,” said team coach David Gorman of Crownsville. “I think that we have more fun than any other team in the league.”

Excerpt from CBS News: (See full article here) 

(AP) As the final buzzer sounds in the Northview Elementary gym, parents burst into applause and 20 children in red and blue T-shirts line up to shake hands.

Their cheeks are flushed, their hair damp with sweat, and most of them are grinning. But the scoreboard is blank.

“It doesn’t bother me,” says 9-year-old Chelsy Stout. “I just have fun playing.”

In the Harrison County Parks and Recreation basketball league, standings for the under-13 teams are maintained only in the mind. Scores are kept by just a few parents, surreptitiously, on tiny notepads.

Like at least 2,300 communities nationwide, this north-central West Virginia county is taking a different approach to youth sports, toning down the competition to stress sportsmanship and equal playing time for every child, regardless of talent.

Over time, and with parental support, organizers say such changes could help keep children involved in athletics longer and reduce the violence that sometimes occurs at sporting events.