John Wilkins understands that because he's spent many hours over many years in gymnasiums around the country watching his sons' Sport Performance 16-under team compete. He said his family used to come to nationals and then try to plan a separate vacation, but with a daughter and twin sons playing in separate cities, it became too much time away from their home in Chicago.

"So now we just come a day late and tack three or four days onto the end," Wilkins said. "We went to Sundance yesterday. Today we're going to Deer Valley and maybe tubing at Jordanelle. We also want to go to the Olympic Park. We went downtown to the Gateway and Temple Square. It's a pretty area. This is a great town."

Wilkins and his family have an advantage some teams don't have in that their coach is a former BYU volleyball player.

"I really miss the mountains," said Ryan Oates, who is a native of Chicago. "I miss the culture. It's nice visiting. As a team, whenever we get a chance to go out and do something, we do. ... I drove them all around downtown Salt Lake and we talked about the culture here. When we arrived at the airport, some missionaries were coming home, and they wanted to know why everyone was cheering for these guys in suits. For 16-year-olds, they were very interested. I was surprised."

Coaches are supportive of family gatherings but want to make sure players are focused on competing when they need to be. That's why most teams love the morning schedule.

"We've been in the afternoon pool, and that's kind of rotten," said John Yehling, coach of a St. Louis team. "We went to lunch as a team, but getting out of the gym at 10 o'clock at night. What are we going to do then?"

They finished tournament play Sunday around noon.

"Now we're going to go do something," he said.

---

E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com