Temple University Athletics
Team Lokahi including Temple alums Maureen (Connelly) Wallace (third from left) and Bridget (Rice) Fischbein (fourth from left).
Volleyball Alums Win Gold at 2013 National Senior Games
8.1.13 | Women's Volleyball
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Two Temple volleyball alums, who are among many still involved in the game, recently won a gold medal at the National Senior Games in Cleveland, Ohio. Bridget (Rice) Fischbein ('81) and Maureen (Connelly) Wallace ('79) played for team Lokahi (women's 50+ and over) which took the title at the championships, while Sue (Weksel) Camner ('83) was also at the Games competing for team Astec.
Fischbein, who is entering her first season as an assistant coach at Immaculata after a seven-year stint as the head coach at Bayard Rustin High School, has served as a leader in getting former players together. She has been part of a rotating group of senior competitors for the last few years, and set her sights on making it to the Senior Games.
In order to earn a ticket to Cleveland, the team had to qualify by winning the Pennsylvania Senior Games at the Keystone State Games last year. They went on to win senior meets in Maryland and Delaware as well, and a group of 10 moved on to take part in the National Senior Games which occur every two years.
Fischbein said the 29 women's 50+ teams this year were the most ever, and noted that the competition has really stepped up now that the age group has former collegiate scholarship players in it.
Once at the Senior Games, the teams were split into five pools. Lokahi won their pool without dropping a match, which Fischbein said was crucial, not only because the tournament was double-elimination.
"There is a lot of pressure to stay in the winners bracket," she said, "and all of us had not felt that kind of pressure in ages. If you lose you have to play more and you get exhausted. You have got to stay in the winners bracket so you're not dead... it gets harder when you're older!"
Team Lokahi won every match through to the finals, where they hit their only obstacle in team Roof from California, which had fought its way out of the losers bracket. After one loss to Roof, the next match would decide the whole thing, and Lokahi came out victorious in the 25-point match.
"It was so nice," said Fischbein. "It's a feeling you've never felt before- you can say you're national champions! It was so much more pressure than the little tournaments we had played in where there was no real competition. We had a really good time on top of it all. The Games were sponsored by AstraZeneca and the whole event was run so well, with closing ceremonies and all that, just like the Olympics."
The Games are a 19-sport, biennial competition for men and women 50 and over, and are the largest multi-sport event in the world for seniors. The first National Senior Olympic Games were held in 1987 in St. Louis. An agreement was reached soon after, based on the United States Olympic Committee's objection to the use of the term Olympic, to hold the event under the name of National Senior Games.
The road to Cleveland was not an easy one, recalled Fischbein.
'We told everyone we were aiming for it, so all year long I'm trying to stay in shape and all of us are doing stuff," she said. "I've been doing the summer running series at Immaculata that I make the players do. You really have to get in shape and try not to get injured! Then you get there and your adrenaline gets going and the competitiveness comes out. Everyone had really missed that feeling, and we all really wanted to win."
Fischbein said there are a number of Temple alums in the area who have stayed active in the sport, and she has her sights set on the next Senior Games and beyond.
"We want to be in this when we are 70," she said. "For now, we're trying to put a team together for the USAV Nationals in Phoenix on Memorial Day weekend next year, and then hopefully qualify for the Senior Games the following year in Minneapolis."
Fischbein, who is entering her first season as an assistant coach at Immaculata after a seven-year stint as the head coach at Bayard Rustin High School, has served as a leader in getting former players together. She has been part of a rotating group of senior competitors for the last few years, and set her sights on making it to the Senior Games.
In order to earn a ticket to Cleveland, the team had to qualify by winning the Pennsylvania Senior Games at the Keystone State Games last year. They went on to win senior meets in Maryland and Delaware as well, and a group of 10 moved on to take part in the National Senior Games which occur every two years.
Fischbein said the 29 women's 50+ teams this year were the most ever, and noted that the competition has really stepped up now that the age group has former collegiate scholarship players in it.
"There is a lot of pressure to stay in the winners bracket," she said, "and all of us had not felt that kind of pressure in ages. If you lose you have to play more and you get exhausted. You have got to stay in the winners bracket so you're not dead... it gets harder when you're older!"
Team Lokahi won every match through to the finals, where they hit their only obstacle in team Roof from California, which had fought its way out of the losers bracket. After one loss to Roof, the next match would decide the whole thing, and Lokahi came out victorious in the 25-point match.
"It was so nice," said Fischbein. "It's a feeling you've never felt before- you can say you're national champions! It was so much more pressure than the little tournaments we had played in where there was no real competition. We had a really good time on top of it all. The Games were sponsored by AstraZeneca and the whole event was run so well, with closing ceremonies and all that, just like the Olympics."
The Games are a 19-sport, biennial competition for men and women 50 and over, and are the largest multi-sport event in the world for seniors. The first National Senior Olympic Games were held in 1987 in St. Louis. An agreement was reached soon after, based on the United States Olympic Committee's objection to the use of the term Olympic, to hold the event under the name of National Senior Games.
The road to Cleveland was not an easy one, recalled Fischbein.
'We told everyone we were aiming for it, so all year long I'm trying to stay in shape and all of us are doing stuff," she said. "I've been doing the summer running series at Immaculata that I make the players do. You really have to get in shape and try not to get injured! Then you get there and your adrenaline gets going and the competitiveness comes out. Everyone had really missed that feeling, and we all really wanted to win."
Fischbein said there are a number of Temple alums in the area who have stayed active in the sport, and she has her sights set on the next Senior Games and beyond.
"We want to be in this when we are 70," she said. "For now, we're trying to put a team together for the USAV Nationals in Phoenix on Memorial Day weekend next year, and then hopefully qualify for the Senior Games the following year in Minneapolis."
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