The first Elgin High, Pope John, Wolfpack Alumni tourney weekend is in the books. The tournament consisted of nine basketball teams and six volleyball teams. In basketball it was the team with the most “experience” to take the title including 1980 graduate, Lynn Selting and 1984, graduate Bob Stoltz.
However in volleyball, it was the direct opposite with the most recent graduates taking the title including players such as and Lydia Behnk and Allyson Wemhoff.
Event organizer Tyler Reestman felt the tournament went really well. “I felt everybody had a great time. There were many laughs, many great games, and new friendships were formed. We look forward to continuing this tradition for many years to come. There were a few that got banged up with a rolled ankle or a little cut on the head…but mainly the common injury was soreness.” I can attest that Tyler’s statements are true, from my own experience in playing this year’s tournament.
I hung up my knee pads many years ago. I played volleyball for twenty plus years after graduating from high school, but after a couple of back surgeries, a torn rotator cuff, and torn meniscus,
I reluctantly decided it was time to call it quits. However, when I saw that they were combining the two alumni’s and struggling a bit for volleyball participation, I called upon my old volleyball teammates to join me and support the new venture. Of course it took some coaxing to get Stacy Shumake Henn, Kim Zwingman, Jody Mueller, Amy Selting and Tracey Schindler to be willing participants in my self titled “we’re not dead yet” alumni team. My fellow teammates seemed to have concern for possible injuries, lingering pain, bladder leakage and movement in general. I ensured them we would only play two games, as it was a double elimination tournament, and we could handle that. My predictions were correct and we gave it our all playing those two games. My teammates were also correct with their warnings of lingering pain, but the fun and memories shared that day were worth every bit of it. Turn to the Elgin Review for the complete story.
