Drinking and Volleyball

by Paul
(Austin, Texas)

Every year, in the Spring, we had a picnic party with games. It was meant to signal the end of the year for officials and staff members in Intramurals. We played softball, football, and other sports with the folks we worked with all year before summer hit and everybody scattered.

Well, we set up the volleyball nets outside to play a huge game of volleyball. Since this is a large group of college students, there was a bit of drinking by all participants. One person in particular, Ryan, was actually quite wasted. He insisted on playing volleyball. They game was just for fun, yet it had a competitive spirit. It was a tight game that ended up coming down to the final point. This was also the last event of the night before the big party started at a senior's apartment. On the final play, Ryan is hanging around the edge of the court, which was marked with rope. While we are volleying the ball back and forth, trying to win, Ryan gets his foot tangled in the rope. While trying to undo himself, he gets the rope tangled around his foot even more as well as one of the poles holding the net. He gives it a final big yank, trying to free his foot, when the poll starts to come down. It comes down right on the back of Ryan's head causing a huge gash. We finally did get him to the emergency room where he spent the whole night detoxing and getting 27 stitches.