Florida Fest 2016

            Some of the most competitive volleyball I have played in a while happened this weekend, January 30th and 31st. This tournament had teams from all around the US, Canada, and even Puerto Rico.
            I went with my travel team MVA (Miami Volleyball Academy). We played an all around great tournament. we won four games and lost three (4-3). our first two games started slow, we had AM wave so our games were early in the morning. we played a team from Puerto Rico called "San Juan" and they had the number 1 player in Puerto Rico as a star player. my team is stacked with some of the best players in Miami, but in Puerto Rico they eat sleep and drink volleyball so you can already figure how that went for us. we held our own but it wasn't enough. after those games we had a break and got some rest to play two more full games. we go on the rest of the day to win our next two games and end Saturday on a high note to only start again on Sunday.
             Sunday morning comes and I wake up in a mood to play some volleyball. the second day of the tournament is playoffs and my team was in the silver bracket. we played at 1:00 but the time seemed to go by slowly.the first team we played was "Vegas" a team from LA. They were good but we've had better competition. our next team was some great competition but not enough for me to remember their name. And finally our last game of the day against another team from California called "nemesis". they had a 6'5 player with the wingspan of an eagle and jumped out of the gym. I did my best to put some points on the board but he just couldn't be stopped. we didn't have the height nor the heart to do it. there is only so much I can do.
             so to wrap up my "Florida Fest" volleyball tournament experience, it was an all around great tournament with some intense competition. I left that tournament knowing I did everything I could and I got better while doing it.

Only the beginning 🏐

Boy's volleyball, a sport greatly under appreciated.
           I've been around volleyball for more years than I can remember. My oldest brother graduated from palmetto in 2011 and played volleyball for all 4 years of high school. I went to almost every single game and cheered him on not knowing I would fall in love with the game. My middle brother graduated in 2014 and was playing volleyball too. He would go with the oldest to practice and they both enjoyed every second they were on the court.
           I went into freshman year expecting to be strictly basketball. But that quickly changed when Mrs. Latshaw (the volleyball coach at the time) was constantly asking me to play when I walked into her class for p.e. I thought... "Why not give it a chance? Your brothers loved playing and even your mom played in high school."
           Tryouts came at the beginning of February and I went with a mindset to get in there and work too make a good impression on the coaches. As we introduce ourselves to the coaches they instantly remember me from my brothers playing for them in the past. I was the third Brown to come through and I was determined to be the best one since I am the last son. After a couple of rounds of playing I started to get the hang of it. Watching my brothers past games really helped me since I already had some knowledge of the game. I could tell the coaches were impressed because they seemed to crowd the court to watch and always had eyes on me. I felt the pressure, but I work pretty well under pressure.