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Volleyball is the best sport, its the combination of strength, skill, and teamwork. By forcing you to rely on others it creates a sense of comradery that is unlike most other sports. You can’t do it alone, there are three touches per side and at most you can only get two, forcing teamwork show vulnerability, shows trust, and shows how one can let go of control. Or it shows how powerless you feel when you ultimately lose the point because of something completely out of your control

Out of all the people who could have complain about this, a middle blocker is probably the last person you would expect, if anyone deserves to its the setter. I started playing volleyball about 7 months ago and upon walking into the gym the president of the Drake men’s club looked at my 6’4 self and went “you are a middle now” and I haven’t looked back, but learning the game and how it works, unless the recive is perfect, the pass is perfect, the setter is in the perfect position, and I don’t mess up my transition, only then will i touch the ball. and as a newbie with 0 experience…. It took a while before I hit the ball much less got a kill.

However what do you do on offense when you are not attacking? well you observe. you observe how each point is lost when you should be the ones scoring. Did the front row fail their blocks? did the lib fail to receive the spike? did the pass go off course? A million things can go wrong before a middle is even considered for a set.

And go wrong they did. game after game, slow blocks bad passes, and failed timing lead to me jumping time and time again, but never hitting it over the net. I was so annoyed that the back row just couldn’t give a decent pass. Was it the ball? do we need one of those fancy yellow japanese balls? So I talked to the A-team middle, and started to rant to him:” I just needed to hit the ball at the end! thats all my job is!” and the moment i said that he looked at me and went “wow, you really have no idea how to play this game huh.”

It’s not a solo show

I stood there for like 3 minutes waiting to see if he was joking, How was any of this my fault? So I sat down and watched the A-team game, I knew for a fact his middle was going to get robbed of every set just like I was. His team was just going to pass to the outside or right side because its safer and over the next five minutes, the middle got 4 kills. the whole set? he got 12. play after play after play I watched as he dominated the court, moving faster than the blockers and swinging almost before the ball left the setters hands, a kid that was only two years older than me was doing that. Placing enough trust to swing before the ball was in his sight, taking criticism for every point he lost weather it was his fault or not, and thats when I realized that volleyball is a team game, that cannot be won by oneself.

Volleyball cannot be one by yourself. A Libero can’t give a good pass if they don’t have the front row blocking, a setter can’t give a good set if they don’t get a good pass, the front row can’t attack if they don’t get a good set. and while that’s simplifying things a lot, it’s the nature of volleyball. The give and take, the push and pull, both lead into a beautiful flow state. Where in order to succeed, everybody needs to come together, because without a team, you are just some guy on a court.

In November of 2020 Sony Released their newest console, the Playstation 5. and through the 6 years since its release the Playstation 5 remained 499.99 dollars, a high, but consistent price point. With the release of new consoles like Nintendo’s Switch 2 at 449.99 dollars it seemed like the once expensive Playstation 5 was now a competitive and fair price. But in August 2nd 2026 Sony raised the Ps5’s Price to 649.99, a 150 dollar increase for a 5 year old system, continuing the trend of rising costs since 2021.

Why Sony Raised Prices

Sony is pointing to the usual suspects: inflation, supply chain problems, and higher production costs. Basically, it costs more to make the console now than it used to. And to be fair, that is happening across pretty much every industry, not just gaming.

But from a student perspective, it still feels a little rough. A lot of people plan their purchases around waiting for deals or price drops. That strategy kind of falls apart when the opposite happens. Instead of being patient and saving money, now it feels like waiting could actually cost you more.

Consumer Reaction and Market Impact

As soon as the news dropped, people scrambled to buy PS5s before the price increase kicked in. Sales went up because nobody wanted to be the person paying extra a week later for the same console. Short term gain in exchange for worse long term sales, the opposite of what this change intended.

Online reactions have been mixed, but there is definitely some frustration. Some people understand why Sony did it, but others are annoyed, especially younger gamers. When you are balancing school, rent, groceries, and everything else, spending hundreds more on a console is not exactly an easy yes. It turns gaming from a fun purchase into something you actually have to sit down and think through.

What This Means for the Future

This could be a sign of where things are going. Consoles are getting more expensive to make, and companies might not be as willing to sell them at a loss anymore. If that keeps happening, future systems could launch at higher prices right from the start.

For now, Sony’s decision kind of changes their usual M.O. Waiting might not always pay off anymore. And for a lot of college students, it turns a simple question into a tougher one. Do you buy now, or risk paying even more later?