Seb's Volleyball Nationals Tournament

little bro comes to town:

The nice thing about living in the GTA is that Toronto hosts plenty of events, conferences, national games and to my benefit, my little brother's volleyball tournament. Since this year's Nationals are being held in downtown Toronto, I am able to watch Sebastian play all weekend long.

Yesterday, I took him sightseeing of Dundas Square, the Eaton Centre, and explore the outdoor shops beside the Lawrence Market. Since it was around lunchtime after visiting the market, we headed on over to the The Old Spaghetti Factory located at 54 The Esplanade which to our hungry bellies, they had just opened for the day and we were sat down right away. On the menu you could partake in all sort of pastas but my brother Sebastian opted for the traditional spaghetti with spicy sauce. I, on the other hand, decided to take a more Italian approach in ordering the pesto tortellini. I thoroughly recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting Toronto as it is a must see from the inside! Beautifully decorated in a child-old english-esque feeling once you walk through the doors.

with my little-TALL brother at Dundas Square

Then came 2:00PM while shopping at Eaton Centre and it was time to drive Sebastian to his first Nationals game. Taking the subway back to where we had parked the car, we checked the GPS to realize it was a short distance to the Direct Energy Centre. This made us very happy as there was a Blue Jays game occurring around this time and we did not want to be stuck in traffic. 

Jordan and I sat down on the Mavericks side (Sebastian's volleyball club team from Ottawa) to help cheer on the team. The game started shortly after and boy was I surprised with my brother's talent! Sebastian has an ability to spike the ball with 'power' across court while also digging balls shot over from the opponent's side. The boys played a really good first game winning both first sets. The second game which commenced at 630PM looked like it was going to be another easy take. The first set was a scrambling game making the boys on Sebastian's team to be a little uncoordinated when relays were taking place or when two boys would go for the same ball without calling it. The Mavericks lost that first set. 

They changed sides of the court to begin the second set. Some would call it fate, others would call it "this side of the court is magical", Jordan simply said it was an intense-sitting-at-the-edge-of-my-seat game where the Mavericks began to play as the team I saw the game previous. They worked together as a team helped each other out when the ball was fumbled and most importantly their faces showed they were enjoying playing the game. Second set came to a finish with the Mavericks winning making the game tied 1-1. They must now play a third set up to 15 points and changing sides when either team reaches 8. This set was the deciding factor of which team was to receive the winning point for standing purposes. This was not an easy set to watch either. We were all at the edges of our seats because there were times when I could not look when the Mavericks served because some points were lost with missed serves. Jordan was even cheering for the Mavericks with cheering words I have never heard him say before and this was his first time watching volleyball. Later that day, Jordan told me he fun watching my brother play which makes me happy but I am more glad those two get along.

I am now preparing to watch Sebastian play his round two of volleyball games so I am leaving you all with pictures from his first game. Enjoy!

Happy sunny Victoria Monday,
Jessica xo

SERVE