Just Kill Me Now

Since December, I had been doing the PA announcements for every Gee-Gees Volleyball game. My job consists of playing the music between serves, introducing the team and mentioning any sponsors in my game script.

This past Friday, my biggest nightmare occured. It was a playoff game and my boss wanted to try something new with music. He set up a laptop to the sound system and he decided he would take care of the music since I might have some trouble with it. For some reason, we couldn't find our usual national anthem CD we've been using for every game, so I went to see one of the other coaches and asked him for a copy. My boss took it, scanned it to the laptop and I went and gave it back.

When the game clock counts down to zero, that's when I tell everyone to please rise for our national anthem. Except the anthem didn't start. My boss starts panicking, telling me it's not working, the song didn't save properly, and to give him back the CD. I hurriedly tell him that we gave it back and ask him what to do. At this point everyone is standing and patiently waiting for the anthem to start. "Say something!" he urges. So I pick up the mic and I start to sing.

OMG, am I really singing the national anthem in front of all these people? My hand is shaking like crazy. I'm trying very hard not to let my breath catch in my throat. Dear God, just let me get through this song. Don't let me choke on the national anthem!

And it's over. And people are clapping as they always do, even when it's a CD playing. And my boss tells me to breathe. And to announce the game sponsors. And the Junior A volleyball girls sitting next to me for game stats ask if I suppose to sing that. No, I most certainly was not suppose to sing that. And they said I did really well. And they said they saw my hand shaking. And I'm still trying to breathe at this moment.

After that, the game went off without a hitch. The Gee-Gees won after 5 sets in an incredibly exhilarating game and move on to the semis in Toronto.

I went for a drink with the team after the game and they gave me a round of applause. They said they thought I was incredibly brave and did a really great job under pressure. They were also really happy that I sang instead of announcing that the anthem would be cancelled due to technical difficulties. They said that you get used to a routine for games, one of them being standing in line for the anthem, and that cancelling it would have thrown them off.

So did I save the Gee-Gees game Friday night? Probably not. But at least I helped.

Oh, and to my boss, next time, a little more than 10 seconds of advance warning would be great. Thanks