By Jami Lambert
Staff Writer
With a few possible exceptions, there isn’t much I value more than getting my sleep. I absolutely love that state of groggy half consciousness as the peaceful night sounds lull me into total relaxation — the sounds of the birds lazily chirping, the ocean waves rhythmically slapping against the shore.
And then suddenly, a large flying object crashes into my window, causing me to bolt upright in my top bunk bed and slam my head mercilessly into the ceiling. This sound is usually followed by excited cheering and, in the most extreme cases, loud music. My roommate and I groan incoherently, a grumbling, which has come to mean “Who on earth plays volleyball at 3 a.m.?”
Welcome to my life since the completion of the new sand volleyball court right outside my window.
The courtyard situated behind Crocker Hall this year seems to be the perfect place for one of the two new sand volleyball courts added to the landscape this semester.
I, like many others, was psyched to open my blinds on moving day to discover that I would have a view of the court. That excitement was soon squashed after I realized that with the game comes an insane amount of noise.
If you have played on this court, you have surely seen my window — it’s the one no more than 10 feet directly behind the serving line. Your ball has more than likely gone astray and hit either my wall or my window and I might have called out a salutation to you as you ran over to fetch it. If you were playing between the hours of 2 a.m. and 9 a.m., that greeting was most definitely not a friendly one.
Unfortunately, I’m not the only one who has had enough.
Senior Katrina Scott and her roommate, sophomore Carmen Aybar, live in DeBell Hall, and their room overlooks the other court.
“It will be Monday night at 12:30 and they’ll be having a tournament,” Scott said. “Where are the teachers giving them homework?”
That is a very good point. What classes are these people taking and where can I sign up for them?
“They are all good and well to have them there for people to play during the day,” Aybar said, “but there has got to be a rule — shut up and get off after 10. People are trying to sleep and do homework and it’s not possible.”
There needs to be some type of restrictions on the availability of the courts. People can hit a ball at my window to their heart’s content for all I care as long as it is at a civilized hour of the day.
Another interesting argument was brought up during my conversation with Aybar. We both spent all last year twisting our ankles at least once a week climbing down the hill from Pauley Hall because there were no funds to put a set of stairs going down the hill.
Similarly, DeBell Hall is lacking a sidewalk to the front door. Yet somehow there is money to fund new recreational facilities. I see how the priorities go around here.
Some disgruntled residents are going so far as to protest the courts. Aybar says she won’t set foot on the courts because she doesn’t “want to encourage more to people to go play.”
To all of you who are using the courts, have a ball, but please remember that even though you don’t have class until noon, others have more realistic schedules and need to get to sleep before the sun comes up. Please have some respect, and leave my window out of it.
October 24, 2002