24 Beers and 1 Trophy

The 25th Annual Ueno Village Volleyball Tournament was held on Sunday. In all the different nooks and crannies of this tiny mountain village, there are about a half dozen neighborhoods filled with volleyball enthusiasts ranging in age from twenty-somethings to sexagenearians. Each neighborhood puts together their best team members to represent them on the court. I live in the neighborhood of Nippa (新羽) which loosely translated means 'new feather' and was a shoe-in for being on the team. Nippa cruised to two easy victories to make it to the champioship game versus the crowd favorite Katsuyama team. The first set went to Nippa quite handedly, then the second to Katsuyama. It all came down to the final set. Try to imagine an environment mixed with moments of deafening silence and then deafening roars. The scoreboard seesawed its way toward match point. Who would get yearlong bragging rights? Who would hoist the Ueno Cup? More importantly, who would be hoisting glasses full of complimentary beer at the champion's party?

The answer: Nippa

Down 19-20, we fended off match point. Then, I served out the match by winning the next three points. We felt like rock stars. The local TV station interviewed me, a humbling experience. I mumbled through my limited Japanese, "Last set...eh...very fun...eh...we worked hard...umm....this game was good. Arigatou."