U.S.A vs CANADA
The traditional day had come. The first Thursday in March (March 5, 2020 this year) was the day for the match-up between the seasoned and skilled water ball players of the United States and the upstart Canadians from the frozen north.
This game has been played for a number of years and for the past 3 years the hosting Americans have graciously allowed the Canadians to win but they have vowed that there is no more Mr. Nice Guy.
Water ball, for those who are knowledge-deprived, is played in a swimming pool with a net across the middle of the pool and is played like volleyball. Each side serves the ball until the serve is lost and then the other side serves, to score points. The game is over when one side has a score of 15 points or wins by 2 points, if there is a tie at 15 – 15.
The setting was the beautiful facility at Caliente Springs Resort in Desert Hot Springs, California.
Thursday dawned in gorgeous sunshine and a clear blue sky. The air temperature at game time would reach into the low 80⁰ F (25⁰ C).
Volunteers from the Caliente Emergency Response Team (CERT) had put up bunting and flags and had arranged all the seating for the crowd that would attend. The volunteers also provided the officiating crew for the game.
Just before 3:00 p.m. the crowd, the teams and their supporters assembled to hear the rules of the game.
Some players on each of the teams had dressed in colourful costumes.
At the toss of the coin Canada won the right to start in the shallower end.
After the singing of 'O Canada' and the 'Star-Spangled Banner', both sung with gusto and reverence, the play was underway.
Canada won the first game 15 – 7 and hopes were high on the Canadian side.
The teams switched ends and the U.S. stormed back to a 15 – 0 skunking of the Canadians.
Again, the teams switched ends and Canada recovered strongly to post a 15 – 3 victory.
Game 4 again had Canada in the shallow end and the Canucks posted a 15 – 6 win resulting in a 3 – 1 lead in games.
Canada took the deep end for Game 5 and lost 15 – 10 to the U.S. but Canada still held a 3 games to 2 lead.
Game 6 had the U.S. in the shallow end again but the Canadians had bolstered their confidence and fought to a 15 – 13 victory to win the tournament 4 games to 2.
To their credit, the U.S. team immediately crossed under the net to offer congratulations to the Canadian victors.
The last photo shows the scoreboard with the final game documented.
While the victors celebrated and the losers commiserated, the volunteers for CERT circulated, handing out ice cream bars to all those attending the event.
See you on the next blog - the river cruise we booked for April 2020, (Budapest to Amsterdam) has been cancelled by the travel agency due to the COVID-19 virus.
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