THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 19, 1994 TAG: 9412190125
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
All night and into the next morning, balls filled the air like confetti, rock music blared from speakers, and pizzas disappeared one slice at a time from a long table at the east end of the Old Dominion field house.
A volleyball tournament was going on . . . and on and on and on. From 8 p.m. Friday until 8 a.m. Saturday, high school boys and girls competed and played with varying degrees of seriousness and skill.
You won't read about the results of this tournament. The caliber of the games was mostly on the level of hit and giggle.
But then, volleyball was not the point of the marathon.
``I don't even like volleyball,'' said one of the players. ``I'm doing this for a good cause.''
The cause is Operation Smile.
Now you know. This is not a sports report as much as a Christmas story.
The kids in the gym - about 170 young men and women from nine area high schools - served and spiked the ball for corporate and private sponsors.
By morning's light, the event had raised more than $15,000, money that the students decided should go toward the next Operation Smile mission to the Philippines in February.
Since it was established in Norfolk in 1982 by Kathy and Bill Magee, Operation Smile has provided free reconstructive surgery to thousands of disfigured children in 11 countries.
The medical miracles performed by the Magees and their volunteer teams are legendary. Less publicized are the contributions of the local Happy Clubs, which invite high school and junior high students to share in the good works of OpSmile.
The range of financial contributions at the all-night volleyball illustrated the reach of the Happy Clubs. Some students from private schools arrived with corporate pledges of $500. Some public school students showed up with rolls of dimes and quarters.
Margaret Lynch, a junior at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, felt she had a personal stake in the evening; she will be going on the next Philippine mission.
``I just want to see the kids,'' she said. ``I want to experience everything.''
Two students are selected for almost every Operation Smile mission. And not just to observe. The teens are asked to assist in therapy with the children, teaching them dental hygiene and nutrition.
Said Dee Dee Sides, a senior at First Colonial who spent 10 days in Kenya: ``I always heard that when I went on a mission it would change the way I looked at my life, and it did.''
Operation Smile has that effect on people, even those who haven't journeyed far beyond their neighborhood. Katrina Scott, a freshman at Booker T. Washington, walks from her home in Young Terrace three days a week to volunteer in the downtown Operation Smile office.
``When I used to see a pimple on my face, I worried to death about it,'' she said. ``But when I see a picture of a cleft lip or a burn, it breaks my heart.''
Who knows where the students got the stamina for all-night volleyball? Was it the pepperoni? The sugar? Hormones?
Perhaps compassion played a role.
After returning last summer from an Operation Smile mission far north of Moscow, Norfolk Academy senior Rebecca Deal was determined not to forget the people she met. For a Christmas present, she asked her aunt for several boxes of toys which she will ship to Russian children.
Children helping children. That's a nice Christmas story.
``It's not like all we're thinking about is parties and shopping,'' said Dee Dee Sides. ``I mean, look around. Everybody here is thinking of somebody else.'' by CNB