Serving up fun

Dave Fox takes a deep breath, then says: “You ready? Serving!”

Hands go up on each side of the net as Fox tosses the ball in the air and smacks it over the net. Eyes watch its path, waiting for it to descend to the nearest player.

The teams volley back and forth a few times, before inevitably, someone reaches for the plastic pink sphere and misses, going down with a splash. The ball hits a pool noodle and bounces out of bounds across the Tara Preserve Community Center pool.

“Point-o!” Fox's team says.

Cathi Fox, playing on the opposite team from her husband, moves a golf tee up a number on the team’s homemade, PVC pipe scoreboard. Dave Fox reaches for another small ball, although his favorite is the pink one.

The water volleyball group has been meeting at the Tara community pool for a little more than two years now, and the all-inclusive Tara residents are always happy to add in a new member.

“Skill levels… well, it’s just a vehicle for getting people together,” said Dave Fox with a laugh.

Fox has become the team’s unofficial spokesman after he defended the group at the July Community Development District meeting,

after the Board of Supervisors had received an anonymous complaint that the players were taking up too much time in the community pool.

“We try to bring people from the community into the game,” he said.

The menagerie of retirees varies, but usually the group has between eight and 10 players at a time, ranging from the youngest regular, at 58, to the oldest seasoned veteran, at 83. The group, which meets Mondays, Wednesdays and sometimes Saturdays, has folks from all walks of life — an Army major, a union officer, a dentist, a former Soviet Union refugee and a government defense contractor, to name a few — including two of the Preserve’s CDD supervisors, John Schmidt and Joe Mojica.

“They’re really a great group — we don’t take it seriously, except for Ada — she loves to win,” — Andy Nesto

Mojica's wife, Ada, founded the club. She and Joe have a pool at their home, and would often play water volleyball with Schmidt and other friends.

“So I said, why don’t we play at the center?” Ada Mojica said.

She thought it would be more inclusive and get more neighbors to socialize.

The Mojicas and Schmidt footed the bill for a net, and built the PVC-frame to allow it to sit in the water. Then they got some balls and new members, including the Foxes.

“Being a supervisor, it’s good, you get to hear about what they’re thinking and hear some complaints,” Joe said. “They’ll tell you if they see something happening or a problem going on, just getting to interact with some folks.”

The team always invites pool-goers to join in, and some people give it a try for the morning. Some return again and again.

“They took me in, no problem,” said Sigi Molingowski, who started playing after being invited on a trip to the pool.

The Tara house rules are atypical — the Foxes said they’ve accumulated rules along the way, but no one gets really competitive. You can hit the balls as many times as you want, for example.

“They’re really a great group — we don’t take it seriously, except for Ada — she loves to win,” joked Andy Nesto, the 83-year-old player who says he is in better shape than some of the younger ones.

For Nesto, the group is the perfect combination of activity and camaraderie. His wife died a few years ago, so he started going to the gym three times a week. While he was there, Joe Mojica invited him to come and play with the volleyball group, and Nesto has been serving it up ever since.

“They keep it fun, so I enjoy it,” he said. “I’ve lived in Tara nine years, and I love it, primarily because I’ve made good friends here, and that’s very important to me.”

Social interaction and physical activity is the focus: There isn’t too much drama within the circle of community neighbors.

“We haven’t had any cheating or drunk scandals, but we’ve never been tested for steroids,” Dave said. “At our age we’d all fail the drug test — we’re all on prescriptions for something.”