Don't F*** with Peace Corps!

Of all the branches of the US foreign service, the Peace Corps doesn’t have the toughest or the coolest reputation. Every year, the US embassy in Peru has a sports tournament, and all the different departments of the embassy play each other. Every Saturday for 4 weeks, employees (and in my case volunteers) along with their family and friends go out to the sports field at the embassy and represent for their line of service.

I didn’t know this tournament existed until today. On Tuesday , I was in the office working on an in service training, and I was recruited. The fact that I had any volleyball experience at all, automatically made me a starting player. When I agreed to play, I had no idea what I was in for. I thought it would be a low intensity game where each teams biggest challenge would be just getting it over the net. I thought it would be so easy going, that I even though I had practice Friday night and games Saturday morning, I scheduled my 10 mile marathon training run at 7 in the morning before the tournament started.

Only a few people showed up to practice Friday night. We ended up playing two on two for the first hour and three on three for the second. Every one was pretty good, so that the two on two matches were really fun. But I forgot how exhausting they are. I am in good shape, but my body is so not used to the anaerobic, jumping and lateral movement that is volleyball. The next morning on my run, my legs were moving as if they were made out of stone. I was seriously regretting my decision to marathon train the morning of the tournament.

Within the US embassy there are a lot of different departments. Some are made up all US citizens and some are comprised of all Peruvian nationals. There was only one other volunteer playing on our Peace Corps team, and apart from us, we were the only Americans. Because of this, Ryan (6’3’’) and me (5’9’’) were the tallest people on the team. We’re both skinny and athletic, but not in anyway intimidating. Our team would best be described as scrappy. We even had the accountants mom playing with us. Don’t get me wrong, that 50 year old woman had a more banning body than most 20 year olds I know and was the best server on our team. But's that's what I mean when I say our team was scrappy.

As we headed over to the court, I saw a group of adults that all looked like they had been bred in bio chambers by the US government. I turned to one of the PC secretaries and said with fear behind my voice “that’s who we’re playing against??!!!”. She told me not to worry. Not to worry? Our first game was against the DEA. The Drug Enforcement Agency (all American, of course). You want a department that hasthe reputation as cool and tough? Look no further than the DEA. There were 4 men on their team and 2 women. The women, while clearly very fit and attractive, didn’t scare me. The 4 men on the other hand, were all 6’2’’ of taller and looked like they could bench press out entire team. There guys were BIG.

To make matters worse, we were playing with the net at women’s competition height. Much as I suspected, the DEA started womping the Peace Corps. The giant men would just stand at the net and smash anything we sent over. To make the best out of what seemed like a done deal, all of the loyal Peace Corps staff got on their feet and started cheering and chanting so loud, they drowned out the noise of the crowd watching the more popular soccer game. And while we were killed in the first round, we came back around to win the second. Wouldn’tcha know.

I 100% accredit our win to our cheering crowd. Pretty soon the enthusiasm spread and over half the crowd was cheering “Peace Corps, Peace Corps!”. But really, doesn't it just seem wrong to route against the Peace Corps? The Drug Enforcement officers seemed a bit frazzled by all this. There was this one really big black man, that for some reason always ended up guarding me at the net and vice versa. He was really into the game, and started to show his fanatical side when he realized he was loosing to, Peace Corps??? He started to get really intense and the rest of his team had to keep telling him to calm down. That this game wasn’t really that big a deal. Let me just say, I can understand where he’s coming from. If I was this big scary drug enforcer and some little peace corps volunteer kept blocking all my manly hard hits, I would be embarrassed too. That’s right, I stuffed that guy like a thanksgiving turkey 4 times! And if felt good. In all fairness, he had some great blocks against me too. But come on, he’s got 6 inches on my plus he’s a genetically engineered super human.

We ended up winning the 3rd game too, therefore winning the match and advancing to the next round. Players and spectators alike, we were all so proud of our underdog victory. I never got a sub the whole game and could feel my legs starting to buckle underneath me as the adrenaline was wearing off. In a way, I almost wished we had lost so we wouldn’t have to play another game that day. Luckily, after watching the USAID (USA International Development) play against the MOA (Military Operations A….. to be honest, I really don’t remember. Why does the US government insist on so many acronyms?). We won our second game on a forfeit as the Embassy Custodial staff didn’t have enough people to man a team. I was so relieved. Even though the all Peruvian team sounded like they could have been easy to beat in volleyball, they dominate the soccer tournament. And if I had had to play another match, I might have had to be carried out on stretcher. But both my Peace Corps doctors had turned up to cheer us on too, so I knew I was in good hands at least.

I had such an amazing experience and I’m so excited out team advanced and I get to come back next week and do it all over again. Next week though, I have 15 miles to run. But I’ll be sure to schedule it for after the tournament or the next day.

The day was so much fun. It was the first time I had even been inside the walls of the fortress we call he US Embassy. I was so proud to be a part of Team Peace Corps. We are so different from every other branch of the US foreign service and it shows even in things like a volleyball tournament. To us, love and support, a positive attitude, and working together are the ways we choose to confront a challenge. Not by sheer brawn and force. The moral of the story is, at first it seemed the power and muscle would over take the scrappy foreigners and volunteers, but in the end, what finally won out was love and Peace Corps.