Recap of State Volleyball 2015 - Part Two (Finals)
Eyes on the prize! Here are some of my favorite images from the final day of the 2015 Nebraska State Volleyball Championships. It was another full day of six games (from Class D2 clear to Class A) at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. If you haven't been to the BDSC since the renovations to make it a volleyball-centric venue, you should definitely get there soon!
Congratulations to all of the 2015 State Champions and the runner-ups. Shooting the championship days, I typically rotate from either shooting the presentations on the court (with the medals & trophy presentation) or shooting the post-game team portraits. And unless you've been a player or coach in that runner-up role, it's hard to explain the rollercoaster of emotions.
Photographing the trophy hand-off is an exhilarating time. But shooting that runner-up team portrait can be a rough gig. For some players & coaches, this moment is one that is tough to handle. So many weeks, months and years of preparation to just come up one game or even one play short of the ultimate prize. But you should hear some of the words of encouragement from some of the coaches. Heck I'd even call them speeches.
But being in that room with those teams really can put things in perspective. A lot of those schools & communities should be very proud of the way these young people represent their part of the state. And countless of players will go on to do a lot greater things in life than winning or losing a high school sports game. So if you've ever been in that runner-up chair, be proud. You have already accomplished a ton making it to the state tournament/playoffs or even the final championship game. I'm not saying don't be still hungry for more. But don't let this one moment take over your lives.
High school sports are amazing for many reasons, but one of those is the amount of emotion that is poured into just a game. And so I am forever grateful to share that moment when you receive your championship medal and host that state champion trophy.
Games covered:
Class D2: Exeter-Milligan vs St. Mary's
Class D1: Johnson-Brock vs Diller-Odell
Class C2: Hastings SC vs Stanton
Class C1: Kearney Catholic vs Ord
Class B: Omaha Skutt vs Gretna
Class A: Omaha Marian vs North Platte
So here's to the end of the fall sports winter season. Now on to basketball - which is still fantastic. Will just miss the sunlight/outdoors of football. See you around the court!
Recap of State Volleyball 2015 - Part One (Semifinals)
My first of two days photographing State Volleyball was spent covering three classes at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. It was definitely interesting having two games going on at once in a split venue format.
My six games on Friday were two games of Class D1, two of Class C1 and two of Class B. And in covering those classes, I was able to see two teams from my part of the state (Diller-Odell & Johnson-Brock). So the day was filled with seeing tons of familiar faces — including other photographers & members of the media that are always great to see!
Games include: Johnson-Brock vs Emerson-Hubbard, Diller-Odell vs Bertrand, Ord vs Chadron, Kearney Catholic vs Columbus Scotus, Gretna vs Northwest and Skutt Catholic vs Elkhorn South.
Coming soon: my recap of the championship matches at State Volleyball!
Best of 2015 MUDECAS Volleyball
For three nights, I traveled to Beatrice to photograph the 2015 edition of the MUDECAS Volleyball Tournament. The first two nights, I focused on the B Division site, while Thursday night included both the B and A Division Championship Matches between Sterling and Palmyra (B Division) and Diller-Odell and Freeman (A Division). You can check out the Beatrice Daily Sun for more images and coverage.
It was a long week of volleyball, which I love, but is a tough sport to photograph. It was helped by ending the week with the A Division match between two teams we cover -- and three of the four finals teams being ones from towns that are basically home to me. And the game between Diller-Odell and Freeman was definitely fun volleyball.
With nine matches and a little more than 5,500 images, it was the most volleyball I've photographed in a couple of years -- all within four days. Hope you enjoy these few recap images from the week's tournament. Good luck the rest of the season! Hope to see some of these teams at state!
Mark & Bonnie | Wedding | 2015
Mark & Bonnie = forever!
When I got the call for a Fourth of July wedding, first thing that came to mind = fireworks. So of course we decided to incorporate a few sparklers (and even a groomsman shooting off bigger fireworks down the street)!
Getting to help Bonnie and Mark celebrate their wedding was amazing. They are truly sweet people and I can't think of another wedding when the bride & groom were so relaxed and yet so excited. I mean, what couple can have someone walk basically into their first look and still not break at sweat?!
JCC Graduation | Class of 2015
The Johnson County Central Class of 2015 graduated on May 9, 2015. Family, friends and teachers of these 41 seniors filled the gym. For me, it was the last chance to photograph a piece of their high school careers. It's tremendously fun to see these students grow up and succeed. And while you'll eventually have other pretty important days of your lives down the road, enjoy this one! Congrats on graduating from high school and good luck on all of your new adventures!
