RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesThe time for Seaside Beach to transform once again has arrived.
For most of the year, Seaside is a place for tourists to get away. It’s the closest coastal sandy respite for Portland’s work-week weary. But once a year, Seaside becomes a bustling, bouncy playground, abuzz with those who want to see and be seen, echoing scenes of crowds at such famous spots as Venice Beach, Malibu Beach and all the famous Florida beaches.
That moment is now.
The Seaside Beach Volleyball Tournament, billed as “the largest in North America,” is entering its 44th year, and, according to event organizer Sadie Mercer, the tournament shows no signs of slowing down.
For five days, from Aug. 5 to Aug. 9, more than 3,000 volleyball teams, about 5,000 players and over 40,000 people are set to bounce over to the Oregon Coast for a week of fun in the sun. Seaside beach will be covered with 245 volleyball nets, plus all the accompanying accoutrements of such a wide-scale event. For instance, there will be enough refreshment stands to quench the thirsts of at least 10,000 tourists per day, plus a live DJ — and more.
“We’ve actually expanded this year,” Mercer said. “Last year we (only) had 239 nets … . We also expanded to a fifth day and added in a couple new activities like the Glow Volley on Thursday and a free concert on Saturday.”
The Glow Volley is an event dreamed up by Mercer. She was inspired by the Savannah Bananas, an exhibition “barnstorming” baseball team famous for their zany antics and interacting with fans.
The Glow Volley event is open for anyone under 18. There will be two groups: a 14U division and an 18U division. The pay-to-play is just $5 and participants will be broken up into randomly selected teams. Think of a glow-in-the-dark volleyball game on a moonlit beach accompanied by some cool techno beats. The event is slated to run from 8 to 10 p.m.
“The Glow Volley event will be completely dark,” Mercer said. “The nets and balls will be lit with LED lights and other glow accessories will be available. There will also be EDM music playing throughout the whole thing.”
With the Seaside Beach Volleyball Tournament in direct competition with Venice, Italy’s beach volleyball tournament for world supremacy, Mercer is hopeful the Glow Volley could put Seaside over the top to become the No. 1 beach volleyball tournament in the world.
“We’ve been in competition with AeQuilbrium Beach Volleyball Tournament in Venice, Italy for a few years now,” Mercer said. “They have 300 nets, so we are still behind them there. However, they top out at 2,000 teams and we have 3,032 as of (Tuesday) with registration still open.
People seemed really interested in the new event, said Mercer. “When I posted about Glow Volley on social media it had over 170,000 impressions and there were people from all over the world asking about it.”
The Seaside volleyball tournament is open for all, but many of the competitors are from the West Coast. Players from Oregon, Washington and California regularly make the annual trip, but last year the Seaside community got a treat they weren’t expecting.
Olympic Gold Medalist Phil Dalhausser came to Seaside and played in the open division. The 45-year-old Dalhausser and his partner, Brendan Onischenko, took home first place. The women’s open division was won by Marine Kinn and Chloe Loreen. In total, there are 61 divisions.
“There’s 12U, 14U, 16U, 18U all the way up to adult and then Dino, which is a combined age of 80,” Mercer said. “We added in a triple division this year to go along with doubles and quads. Every player will be divided up by their skill set.”
Tournament provides networking with net work
A big benefit of the Seaside tournament is the chance for young aspiring players to get noticed. Due to the volume of talent, many college teams and coaches make the journey to the North Coast and take this as an opportunity to scout out the crop of volleyball players.
This is true for rising Astoria High School junior Kyah Gohr. The Astorian has shown next level talent during her first two years with the Fishermen and will use Seaside to continue taking advantage of the summer circuit. So far, Gohr and her beach teammate Katie White, of St. Mary’s Academy in Portland, have been on a tear. The pair have won all five tournaments they’ve played outside of California and recently had a chance to play in the star-studded Hermosa Beach Nationals in Hermosa Beach, California. The pair finished 8-2 and won the Silver Bracket.
“This will be my second year playing at Seaside,” Gohr said. “Last year I actually played with a girl from Corban University in the AA division. That’s where I met the Corban coach, so I definitely will use this as a networking opportunity since it’s harder for me to get exposure in Astoria.”
After being a Seaside novice a year ago, Gohr is more confident she and her teammate will do well this year.
“Katie is the most chill loving girl I think I’ve met,” Gohr said. “We compliment each other really well. I bring the fire and she brings a more calm, cool and collected mindset.”
Gohr said the two got connected through their traveling indoor team and have been playing together ever since. With Seaside being a home base for her, the incoming junior is confident the home court advantage will work in her favor.
“I don’t think people realize how windy it is in Seaside,” Gohr said. “Because I train here, I feel like I’m kind of ready for this aspect.”
Gohr and other local players won’t be the only ones looking to make a name for themselves. Oregon’s Adam Ellis and his NPJ Volleyball club will be bringing more than 400 members to the beach.
NPJ, or National Pacific Junior Volleyball, is a club Ellis started in 2009.
“What I’m most proud of is that the club has helped any player who wants to make it to the next level get there,” Ellis said. “I’ve been coming to Seaside since 2003 and my club has been coming here since 2009,” Ellis said. “The culture at Seaside is great...
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