10 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Seaside gears up for world’s largest beach volleyball event
The 35th annual
chamber event set
for Aug. 11 to 14
By KATHERINE LACAZE
FOR EO MEDIA GROUP
The Seaside Chamber of
Commerce intends for the
35th annual Seaside Cham-
ber Beach Volleyball event to
revolve around one primary
principle: an exceptional
player experience. For this
year’s upcoming event, that
means better pacing at the
tournament and using updat-
ed technology.
Seaside’s beach volleyball
event — recognized since
2011 as the world’s largest
beach volleyball tourna-
ment by the World Records
Academy — will take place
Thursday to Sunday, Aug. 11
to 14. More than 3,000 play-
ers on about 1,450 teams are
expected to attend. The event
also draws large crowds of
family members, friends and
random spectators.
The tournament includes
players of all ages, with the
youth divisions becoming the
focal point in terms of con-
sumer demand. Most of the
14-year-old brackets were the
irst to ill up, and the boys
youth divisions have grown
exponentially from last year,
according to Brian Owen, the
chamber’s executive director.
With that burgeoning
demographic in mind, Owen
said, the chamber knew
change was necessary to im-
prove the player experience.
To help bring the volleyball
event up to speed this year,
the chamber hired new tour-
nament directors: NWAS and
Bad Boys Open Volleyball,
two Portland groups operat-
ed by Deng Thepharat, PT
Thilavanh and Mike Grifin,
who are active members of
the volleyball community
and former players at the
Seaside tournament.
“Those three individuals
really have helped us move
the event into a technolog-
PHOTO BY JEFF TER HAR
The center court of the tournament is located on the beach near the Turnaround at the end of
Broadway. Other volleyball courts stretch up and down the beach.
ically forward product,”
Owen said. “They do under-
stand and live the volleyball
culture,”
New app to
free up players
The chamber received
feedback last year that some
event participants were not
pleased with how late the
games were inishing nor the
system of communicating a
team’s next match. In previ-
ous years, teams had to inish
their game, walk to center
of the event to report the
score and winner, and wait
to ind out the time, location
and competitor for their
next game, which would get
posted on dry erase boards.
This method virtually held
participants “captive on the
beach,” Owen said.
“We were trying to do
business the way we would
want to do business, and that
wasn’t our consumer,” he
added.
This year, the chamber
will be using a smartphone
application to keep play-
ers informed about their
upcoming matches. Players
also can report their scores at
one of three stations diverse-
ly located at the north side,
south side and middle of the
playing area.
This new system will free
up players to leave the beach
and eat, shower, visit the
city or do other activities in
between their matches. The
chamber also has improved
communication through its
website and is publishing the
event’s irst Players’ Guide
with court information.
As for getting play to
end earlier each evening, the
chamber added an extra day
to the event.
“The games were not end-
ing until after dark,” Owen
“THE PINNACLE OF THE EVENT IS
REALLY SATURDAY AFTERNOON
AND EVENING. WE HAVE THE
BEST PLAYERS FOR BOTH THE
MEN’S AND WOMEN’S BRACKETS
PLAYING ON CENTER STAGE.”
said. “Starting it a day earlier,
we’re able to manage the
time and have a better player
experience.”
Youth doubles will begin
Thursday and inish Friday,
Aug. 12, the day adult dou-
bles also start. Parent/child
doubles will also take place
Friday. Doubles games for
all divisions will conclude
Saturday, Aug. 13. The quads
and sixes divisions, including
the new boys quads division,
will take place Sunday.
“The pinnacle of the event
is really Saturday afternoon
and evening,” Owen said.
“We have the best players for
both the men’s and women’s
brackets playing on center
stage.”
Burgeoning youth
participation
The doubles divisions
include the majority of par-
ticipating teams. Registra-
tion for the whole event may
be down a little this year,
“because families were used
to playing Friday,” instead
of Thursday, Owen said, but
organizers still anticipate up-
ward of 1,450 teams. Players
had until July 31 to register.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The Seaside Chamber of Commerce’s beach volleyball event is
in its 35th year and draws more than 3,000 players from across
the country.
For average spectators
who want to watch good
matches, Owen would sug-
gest keeping an eye on the
youth players, or the 14- to
16-year-olds. He would not
give names, as the players
are minors, but he said
some of the best Northwest
players, in addition to clubs
from Chicago, San Diego,
Los Angeles and other large
cities, are attending the Sea-
side event.
Because many of the
youth are working toward
obtaining scholarships to
play collegiate beach volley-
ball, they compete at a high
caliber.
“This is an event that a
lot of these clubs come to
so they can play each other
at one location, rather than
having a lot of travel to oth-
er areas,” Owen said.
The fast pace with which
the youth divisions are grow-
ing also is drawing more
college scouts and sponsors
to the Seaside tournament.
In the adult divisions,
there were no brand name
adult players yet regis-
tered, but some of the
better doubles teams from
last year, such as British
Columbia’s Dan and Sean
Casey and Eric Brewer
and Aleksey Kruglikov,
plan to return.
In an effort to provide
newcomers to the sport the
chance to learn and play, the
event will feature a court,
sponsored by Providence
Seaside Hospital, that is spe-
ciically designed for novice
players.
“We truly designed this
year with the player experi-
ence in mind,” Owen said,
adding organizers want to
give the event a fun and
exciting vibe — “a youthful
vibe” that will appeal to the
young players who are be-
coming the lifeblood of the
Seaside tournament. “(That
vibe is) the laugher, it’s the
fun, it’s the enthusiasm of
the event and the day.”