Capt. takes home gold

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Rachel Martinez
  • 319th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  Capt. Krissi Gage, a pilot with the 905th Air Refueling Squadron, competed with other Airmen to take home the gold medal during the 2010 All-Forces Volleyball Championship at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C. May 3 through 11.

The All-Forces championship is an annual volleyball championship with all branches of military service participating.

Captain Gage has been playing volleyball since she was nine years old. She played volleyball for both her high school and club teams. Captain Gage was then recruited to play volleyball for the U.S. Air Force Academy.

"I was really competitive," said Captain Gage, reflecting on her past volleyball experiences.

Captain Gage said she always knew about the Air Force volleyball team but due to operational necessities, she had never been able to try out for it until this year.

Captain Gage didn't know she was going to be able to try out for the Air Force team until three days before the tryout was set to begin. Captain Gage explained her preparation for the tryout mainly consisted of playing in pick-up volleyball games.

"I think having almost 20 years of play behind me, helped as well," remarked Captain Gage.

The tryout for the team began April 14 at Hill Air Force Base, Utah and lasted for three days.

"Tryouts consisted of a lot of scrimmages and some drills here and there but it was more like playing so our coach can see our weaknesses and strengthens, where would we fit in with the team," said Captain Gage.

Captain Gage said that she made the team along with a couple of girls she played with in college.

Captain Gage and her team then spent the next two weeks practicing for the tournament.

"We practiced two to three times a day and each practice was two to three hours long," said Captain Gage. "A couple of times a week we would actually scrimmage local college teams and high school club teams and we would get a different competition level and actually get to play against someone who isn't your teammate."

May 3 arrived sooner than expected. The All-Forces tournament began the first three days of the tournament with the inaugural Armed Forces beach volleyball championship.

The Navy's women's team won both the gold and silver. The Navy's men's team took gold and the Air Force men's team took silver. After the beach competitions were over court play began.

Although it was Captain Gage's first time participating, she was the starting setter throughout the championship.

The tournament was a round-robin style, which is where every team plays against each other twice, the winner is the team that has the most wins. If there is a tie, then the winner of the tournament will be determined by who won the most sets.

"It was rally scoring to 25, then if you go into a fifth set then its rally scoring to 15," said Captain Gage.

During the championship, the Air Force team lost to the Navy once but won the rest of their matches putting them in a spot to possibly win the gold.

"There was actually a lot of pressure to win because the Air Force hadn't won the gold in two or three years and there were girls on the team who had been on the team the previous time we won, so it was a do or die match," commented Captain Gage.

Captain Gage explained the final match was like a final game because of the way the round-robin worked out the Air Force team, who was ranked number one was set to play the Army team, who was ranked as the number two team for gold medal.

"We knew that we had to go in fighting for the very first point because that's when you differentiate the losers from the winners, who can overcome the pressure and stress to win," said Captain Gage.

The Air Force team defeated the Army in the final match securing the gold for the Air Force, the silver for Navy.

The Air Force male volleyball team went undefeated to take home the gold medal and Navy's men's team took silver.

Captain Gage said she will definitely try out again next year if mission requirements allow it.

"My true passion is playing volleyball and getting to do it again was really special for me," said Captain Gage.

Captain Gage is originally from San Antonio, Texas and has been commissioned for five years.