All-Church Sports Tournaments

      In this week’s Church News I was interested in an article recalling the final All-Church basketball tournament in 1971.  This tournament was a Big Deal in the years before it was discontinued.  In the years while I was BYU student, the tournament was usually held on campus in the Smith Fieldhouse.  I recall finding my way down to the Fieldhouse and sitting in the stands watching these games for many hours.  
     I never belonged to a ward with enough basketball talent to play at All-Church, let alone win our Stake or a regional tournament.  However, during these years the Church also sponsored an All-Church Volleyball tournament, which I did experience in about 1960.  Our BYU ward included some California kids who were experienced and talented volleyball players.  I recall there being two Gabbitas brothers who were really good.  Our ward team won our stake competition and also a BYU tournament and the right to play in a Utah County regional tournament.  We won a couple or so games there and got to the finals, where we lost to a really good American Fork ward team led by Herschel Pederson, who was a very tall former BYU basketball center and great athlete.  Our second place finish still entitled us to attend All-Church which was held in the old Deseret Gym in Salt Lake.  We played a couple of games in that tournament before being eliminated.
     I never got to the point of being a good spiker.  I mostly covered a space of the floor and tried to be a good set-up person.  But it is fun to think back to this All-Church experience, and also fun to see the success that BYU college volleyball teams have had recently, both men and women, and how dynamic and powerful a game they play.