Santa Cruz Volleyball Forum

I think that we need to have a united voice on this issue.   Rowland suggests, and I agree, that limiting tournaments to 1 day/weekend.   This makes it easy for the organizers to reserve as many courts as necessary, and still leave one day for public play.   I also suggest an exception for one time/summer events such as Corona Wide Open.  But that's my opinion, I could be wrong.

In order to avoid extended email exchanges, I created a survey on surveymonkey.   It's only 1 question, with  possible answers, a) 1 day/weekend, no limit on courts and excluding special one time events, b) limit number of courts that can be reserved, but allow tournaments both Sat and Sun of a given weekend, c) limit of 1 tournament per weekend and limit number of courts.

Please take the survey at:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=3 ... VkkA_3d_3d

I'm also forwarding this to a couple of other beach play email lists.  I will provide the results to everybody.  (And yes, the option of grabbing all the courts every weekend was deliberately excluded).

Has any one considered raising the court rental rates for out of city or out of county individuals and organizations in addition to the other suggestions in the survey?

There is a precedence for this with other parks and recreation centers. That may help us appeal to the city's need for the revenue.

This suggestion assumes that No Attitudes and CBVA would be classified as local organizations. This may not be true for the CBVA, though, since it operates out of Malibu.

Andy

To: The Main Street Beach Volleyball Community
From: Mark Hull CBVA Tournament Director
Re: Issues of public access to courts at Main Street Beach 2009-2010

I have been made aware of several concerns that both tournament and non tournament players have about the increased scheduling of volleyball tournaments for the remaining months of this season and possible scheduling for the 2010 summer season. The adding of the NCVA’s schedule of events came after the initial scheduling process that normally takes place in late Sept. or Oct. At that time there were several “open weekends” or weekend days to accommodate the weekend warriors of Main Street Beach. The booking of weekends was primarily divided between “No Attitudes” and the CBVA. Tournament schedule to meet the needs of both communities of players. The adding of a 3rd volleyball organization, the NCVA, that has plans to utilize this public facility (that is maintained through the tireless efforts of Rowland and the gathering of private donations), will require a new policy to be created and implemented.

The City’s suggested policy change would be that each promoter would be allowed to have one weekend day per month to run an event. There would be an exception to that as the Wide Open sponsored by Corona is requesting a two day event to be held on July 10-11th 2010. It was seen as a great success by all parties and has made a 3 year commitment to hosting an event at Main Street Beach. This policy would allow for “No Attitudes” to have its traditional 3rd Saturday of each month, starting in March through November. The other weekends would be scheduled for use by any other organizations that were wanting to use the courts. The number of CBVA Adult events would be reduced from the current number of 9, starting in April through September to 5 events for the entire summer season.

I took over running the CBVA tournament schedule 14 years ago after having been a partner for 10 years previous to that and have worked to build up a wide variety of events to meet the needs of the all levels of players. I have also worked to create a space within the summer schedule for a viable youth tour within the past 3 years. If the number of events that I can offer is going to face this type of limitation, I will be forced to make some tough decisions regarding when and what type of tournament I will be able to run next season. Beach volleyball is a growing sport at Main Street Beach, and I feel that I have been instrumental in maintaining a consistently high quality of events throughout the past 24 years to foster that growth in all levels of play.
I have just read an email saying that this will all be worked out before any permits are assigned for the 2010 season. I’m certain that a fair and equitable process will be formulated and put into place but if you feel a need to express your concerns, ideas, or suggestions, now is the time to do so, as this City will be designing and implementing a new policy very soon. I have included the following links for you to respond to a survey or send an email to either:
Jill Bates, the Director of Beach Events (she is currently on vacation, but will be returning July 20th). JBates@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us. Carol Scruich, Director of Parks and Rec CScruich@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false
Please let them know how many CBVA events you have played in the past and your level of play so that they might get an idea of the number and level of events that would best serve the Central California community. I have kept record for the past several years and will use that information to also request my dates for the 2010 season.

Jeff Jacobs has created a survey to gather more information to be presented to the City:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=3 ... VkkA_3d_3d

Be sure to also post your opinions on this forum so we can hear from all sides of the issue.

I would also like to hear from you regarding your concerns, suggestions, or ideas regarding this and any other Main Street Beach Volleyball issue.

Thanks for taking the time to read through this, I tried to remain as neutral as possible.

Like Rowland, I too have a great sense of pride in what we all as a volleyball community have created at Main Street Beach.

Thanks ..” hope to see ya at the beach?” mhullo

First off, let me introduce myself. My name is Jillian Bivert and I work the Northern California Volleyball Association (NCVA) as the Coordinator for our beach/sand program. The NCVA has been running sand tournaments for several years at West Valley College and Santa Cruz. We have created our schedule to provide an opportunity for not only our indoor Jr. & Adult players to play, but for the outside community to play.

On Wednesday, July 15, 2009 I submitted this email to Rowland which provides explanation for people in santa cruz. We have yet to receive a response. Below are some of the comments from the email.

It has been brought to our attention from concerned citizens of Santa Cruz that there are some questions regarding the NCVA using the courts on the main beach of Santa Cruz. I would like to introduce myself, my name is Jillian Bivert and I work for the Northern California Volleyball Association (NCVA) as the Coordinator for our beach/sand program. The NCVA has been running sand tournaments in Santa Cruz for several years; we have not been aware of these issues and have no intention of stepping on anyone’s toes. We have always had a great working relationship with the City of Santa Cruz and at no time have had any problems with the “locals” of Santa Cruz during our tournaments. At no point has anyone informed us of what you do to keep the beach in the condition it is, by volunteering your hours (I think that’s awesome and thank you). I understand that once in a while you receive a donation for your time which we have give to already and we would like to continue to do so.

I understand that on site information is posted on the kiosk. We plan to post our tournament dates, you can also find this information on the NCVA website www.ncva.com. You can also see how many teams we have scheduled to play in the event which can give you some idea of the amount of courts that will be needed, of course we also have to allow for walk-ups. It would also be helpful, so that we can plan, if we could get some type of idea of how many courts the local use on a given weekend. Again, so we can work together and let everyone enjoy this great sport and location.

About us not “giving back” to the beach. We give back in many ways, not just paying for the space. If you are talking about the donation to you as stated above we have no problem assisting you with all you do for the beach, again Thank you! By bringing players to the City of Santa Cruz, who purchase items from the local business around the area thus bring additional business is great for the area. In some cases this is the first time they have been in Santa Cruz and plan to be back and bring other family members and friends. I believe that with the current economy the local businesses will welcome the additional patrons. We also bring the sport that we all love “volleyball” to the youth, not only outdoor but the indoor game also. We support several clubs in the Santa Cruz area by having tournament in the local gyms, and paying for this use which again brings income to the community as well as purchasing souvenirs and food at the local restaurants and businesses around the area. We also encourage our players to attend the other events that are hosted at Santa Cruz.

Let’s talk about what we can all do better in working together.

Thank you for your time.

I would also like to thank Phil for giving us an opportunity to share our side to this situation.

July 19, 2009 – The NCVA will be using 4 courts on Sunday for our tournament.

Jillian
NCVA Office

It seems like the NCVA and its tournament director were lacking basic courtesy skills.

My name is Silvia and I am a passionate beach volleyball player when I am not an economist. I organize big groups of friends who come down every weekend to play beach volley. It is a tradition: we drive up (hence pay parking), we have lunch and dinner (hence contribute to the Santa Cruz economy) and sometimes we stay over night in Hotels (hence contribute to Santa Cruz economy).
I started two years ago and beach volley has become part of my life: I am not moving to San Francisco because it has no beach volley courts. Many of us have been introduced to this new life style thanks to Phil (Kaplan tournaments), Mark and Rowland (CBVA). We train the entire week to get a higher CBVA ranking, I schedule my entire work around their tournaments, we all love them. Mark, Phil and Rowland have organized amazing tournaments and have always taught us to keep the beaches clean. They organize volunteer times for people to clean the beaches. Mark, Phil, Rowland and Santa Cruz are part of a life style for many of us CC in this email (mailing list included).

I am writing to urge you to consider how important they are to the life quality and passion of so many of us, and how key they are also for our passion and dedication to Santa Cruz. They have created a tradition, a group, a legacy that has to be taken care of when deciding how to design a new policy. Many Santa Cruz voters play with us or know us because they run the restaurant or hotel we visit during our sacred weekend trips to Santa Cruz. Everybody knows and adores Mark, Phil and Rowland.

Many of us hope to hear from you that we will be able to continue enjoying some free access to the beach as well as ALL of the tournaments that Mark and Phil organize. They created the whole tradition, and they are part of the life style of many of your voters and out of town visitors that support Santa Cruz's economy. I personally played in every single one when I was in town and come every single weekend I am in town. Mailing lists I own or use probably include around 300 regular visitors to Santa Cruz and many voters. Let us know if you need media publicity to support your decision in favor of the beach volley legacy.

Sincerely,
Silvia

Silvia Console Battilana, PhD
co-founder Auctionomics.com
silviacb@stanford.edu

Let's reiterate the important point: This facility was basically created, paid for and maintained by the local volleyball community under the direction of Roland, Phil and Mark.

Mike

Dear Santa Cruz Administrators,

I reside in Redwood City, but am an avid beach volleyball player at Main Beach.

I understand your desire to be equitable to all volleyball associations contributing to the city’s income from Main Beach courts. However, I’d like to make the argument that the organizations in question are not equitable in their contribution to Santa Cruz… financial or otherwise. Please be so kind as to hear my perspective.

Both CBVA and No Attitudes are tournaments built up around the Santa Cruz beach volleyball community. The tournaments have been built over years to fit the local players – our levels, our preferences, our needs. As such, these two tournaments have done so much more than provide a competitive arena. They have created a culture among us volleyball players with Santa Cruz as its epicenter. We don’t come to Santa Cruz just for the tournaments, we come for Phil’s summer weekday classes, we come to practice on our own at Main Beach to perform better in tournaments, we come to practice with the local Santa Cruz volleyball players throughout the week and on weekends too – all the while contributing to the local economy because we always visit restaurants and pubs afterwards, and often stay overnight. We are repeat customers for your economy, contributing dollars over and over again, not just on the weekends and not always related to just volleyball. (Personally, through my play at Main Beach, I’ve met dear friends that reside in Santa Cruz, and often make the trip over the hill to go out with them, or to go shopping in downtown Santa Cruz.) We take such pride in our volleyball scene and each other that we freely donate time and money to keep Main Beach clean and maintained, saving the city money in having to do this itself.

Will the NCVA contribute in the same way? Will it create the same repeat visitors and cultural following that CBVA and No Attitudes has and thus the continuous revenues the other 6 days of the week? My humble opinion is no. I’ve been to the NCVA site, and it appears to me they cater more to the junior crowd (NCVA does seem to have an adult division for 3 tournaments or so, but it’s combined with a junior event same day and it appears even that has been cancelled for July 19th). If catering to the junior crowd is the case, you’ll get the weekend traffic, probably teenagers coming with their parents, but you won’t get the repeat visitation and spending that the current volleyball scene provides week long – not to mention teenagers don’t have the purchasing power of the current, more-adult volleyball scene. Even if the NCVA manages to attract an older crowd, will it create the same loyalty that CBVA or No Attitudes does? Again, in my humble opinion no. NCVA has events throughout the peninsula throughout the year – both indoor and outdoor. It was not built for the Santa Cruz beach community, and many of the tournament visitors will likely consider Santa Cruz simply a stop along the season’s tour. You’ll create a culture where folks come in once a week, tear up the courts and then leave with no sense of pride or responsibility to maintaining the current beauty of Main Beach. And by doing so, you’ll be stifling the breeding ground of culture and respect that leads to the repeat customers and week-long revenues which exists today with the Main Beach volleyball crowd.

While I believe it is healthy to accommodate new organizations at Main Beach in an effort to facilitate the growth of beach volleyball as a sport, I implore you to not do it at the expense of No Attitudes or CBVA, nor at the expense of us numerous dedicated and repeat visitors that return again and again to Santa Cruz to find an open court and to mix with the locals in your economy.

With sincere gratitude,
Ronda Broughton

I sent this email out today to Jillian, the NCVA Head director, in response to the email she sent to me last week: re SC Main Beach Events
I would like to add. That to accommodate the NCVA expanded schedule and the need for public play, our local tournaments, especially the CBVA, will have to cut back on their own schedules. This won't sit well with me, the Santa Cruz local players and players who come from other areas to play in the CBVA tournaments. It will create a negative image for NCVA through out the CBVA community. The NCVA is noted for their club tournaments, indoor adult and grass tournaments and should stick to those venues.
To:
"Jillian" <jillian@ncva.com>

Dear Jillian,

Thank you for the email, but I believe you have missed the main point I am trying to get across.

In the past, the NCVA has held one or two tournaments in Santa Cruz during the summer. This year you have greatly expanded your tournament schedule to ten events on Main Beach and I feel you are stepping on people's toes (your phrase). Also, I did not appreciate the comment that David, the NCVA tournament director, made to me about the public getting to play for free while he pays. These people give generously and he forgets that they are all local taxes payers. With that attitude he can go back to SF.

Previoiusly we have had a reasonable balance between tournaments days and the days the courts are open and free for the public. Now, there are so many tournaments scheduled on Main Beach that there are no more free weekends available for public play for the entire summer. Your tournaments are the breaking point!

The majority of the money that supports the courts at Main Beach comes from people who DO NOT play in tournaments. These people, including myself, look forward to the non-tournament weekends so we can get to play. Your overbooking and expanding of your schedule has stopped the weekend play for the public for the entire summer. This is why you are hearing from, "concerned citizens of Santa Cruz."

We realize that tournaments have benefits to the community and local businesses and you are welcome to have tournaments here -- just not every weekend. We would like to see you limit your NCVA tournaments to one Saturday a month. I think everyone would agree that would be acceptable. Because of your actions, the Santa Cruz volleyball players have flooded the Santa Cruz Parks and Rec and the Santa Cruz city council with emails and phone calls asking for changes in the city's tournament policy.

Thank you for your interest in donating to support beach volleyball at Main Beach. You should give money to the Friends of Main Beach Volleyball through the Santa Cruz Parks and Rec Department. This money will only be used to support the volleyball courts at Main Beach; it can't be used for other purposes.

I would also encourage you to develop sand volleyball courts in other areas of the Bay Area. For example, Golden Gate Park would be a great spot -- it would save water and save the lawns from the damage that grass play does.

Thank you very much.

Rowland