In The Works: Beach Volleyball League

After the AVP volleyball Pro Volleyball tournament hit the sands of Panama City Beach, people all over the beach wanted to show off their volleyball skills in competition. If you are one of those people, now you have a chance. On the week of May 18^th, PCB Sand Sports in partnership with Sharky’s Beachfront Restaurant & Tiki Bar, will be offering a competitive league for you to get your spike on.

Interest in the sport has always been a local staple on Panama City Beach but, as of late, that interest has become a desire to provide a permanent place to play. PCB Sand Sports, in an attempt to address that desire, plans to create leagues, tournaments and events for the local community as well as for tourists in the area.

Leagues during the week will be available in several categories from fun-loving novice to expert competitor. PCB Sand Sports is part of the AVPNext program which is the membership organization for AVP Pro Volleyball tour. AVPNext is working with Barefoot Wine to offer the winners of the Barefoot Men’s division or Women’s doubles a change to win prize money of $1,000.00 along with a trip for two to San Francisco to take part in the Barefoot Championship Cup held in August.

All leagues are $50.00 per player for registration along with a $10.00 per player membership fee to join the AVPNext program. All leagues will run for about 8 weeks. It should be all sorts of sandy fun.

Tuesday: 4 person co-ed (at least one woman on court)
Wednesday: Barefoot AVPNext Men’s Doubles
Thursday:6 person co-ed “fun” league (at least 2 women on court)
Friday: Barefoot Women’s Doubles

For more information email beachresearch@yahoo.com or contact Roman at 850-769-4802

Spring Break, Kids just want something FUN to do!

Beach Tennis Tournaments for Spring Break

We had the opportunity to introduce a healthy approach to Spring Break 2009 in Panama City Beach this year. We introduced the Beach Tennis USA Association to the area and began to offer active sports on the beach as a way for students to meet others and have fun in competition. We brought in Pro Tennis players and all of the nets and equipment to set up in front of Sharkys to offer an organized “sport” and play with prizes, t-shirts and most of all FUN.

The play is FREE and we are offering t-shirts to all who play and try the sport. The winners of the tournament have received dinner for two at Sharkys and various tennis related prizes. We have given away tennis racquets as we approached the end of the event to winners who want to continue to play this new sport and have fun.

We have been running tennis tournaments most every day. Two Sundays ago we had 20 teams ( 40 kids) lined up to play at 10:30 a.m.

The students we have met and interviewed just want to come to the white sand beach of Panama City and enjoy the sun and meet others. Every day we had students who were signing up to play, excited to compete and interested in additional sports and activities that will let them be active and meet others. We had repeat students coming back to compete and win better prizes as the week progresses.

We have met students from all over the world including Australia, United Kingdom, France, Italy and all across the U.S., and they have all been excited to have something active and fun to do at the beach rather than just “drink” all day.

Students are much more concerned about their health and wellness these days than in the past and many of them workout, run and exercise. Yes there is a percentage that come just to drink and get wild but the many students we have met over the past 2 weeks are just here to have some fun.

Many of them do not like the concept of a community who makes money offering them “all you can drink” for a set price at a number of bars. In fact many of them would like to have someplace else to go at night rather than the crowded bars.

Accidents happen when people of any age get out of control. The idea of offering all you can drink to any age group provides the basis for danger and accidents.

Does anyone offer all you can drink healthy drinks or provide a choice for the students to do something else to have fun and meet others?

If you look at the ads from many of the establishments to the colleges in the “Spring Break” guide you will see they promote the idea of sex, drinking and wild parties.

The college atmosphere is changing and students will drink and they do want to have fun but overall they want to do something active to meet others. They are becoming much more concerned about the environment and have innovative ideas to drive change.

If you spend the time on the beach and watch the students and ask them questions they are mostly good kids. They also want to pick up their trash but many times the location of the trash barrels are not convenient.

We know they want to play more sports on the beach and hope to develop further programs and ideas to offer for future Spring Break. Has anyone ever done any survey with these kids to really determine how to help the community offer new and fun ideas for the kids to meet others and have good clean fun??

It is a shame to have a few kids that go overboard or in the case of our observation we noticed a local who came to the beach asking kids for beers across the beach. Panama City Beach has an opportunity to work with the students who help make this community profitable and better understand how to change and offer new and innovative ideas to give them fun ways to meet others and the ability to “drink” responsibly.

If we think about it the spring breakers are just our “own kids” trying to become the star in their own lives. We just need to ask a little more in words and our actions because we need each other and can help make this work if we just listen and learn to engage the students and kids with their ideas.

PCB Sand Sports Teams up with AVP for Beach Volleyball

PCB Sand Sports in partnership with AVPNext, the grassroots program of the Association of Volleyball Professionals will be developing a Beach Volleyball league and series sponsored by Barefoot Wine to launch at Sharkys the week of May 11th, 2009. The leagues will begin at 6 p.m. on Wednesday nights for men’s doubles and Friday evening for women’s doubles.

The leagues will run for 8 weeks and offer both the men and women’s winners a prize of $1000 in cash along with airfare and entry into competition for the “first ever” Barefoot Cup Championship in Hermosa Beach, CA. The top 16 teams from across the U.S. will compete in Hermosa Beach to represent their area.

Sharkys and Seahaven are partners with PCB Sand Sports to bring the “fun” of beach sports directly to Panama City Beach with programs, events and activities to showcase the white sand and ambience of the area. Roman Reese founder of PCB Sand Sports and Director of Nashville Beach Volleyball has been involved in volleyball for more than 20 years.

He has been a major influencer to develop the long standing Fud’s 4-Person Tournament that is located in the Destin, Ft. Walton area that has grown from 17 teams to more than 250 teams with a waiting list to play. This tournament is now a “regular” vacation for the players who began to come in the beginning and developed the event into a “memorable” tournament to meet friends and reconnect with players across the country.

The AVP Pro Tour will be hosting their first Tour Stop in Panama City Beach in front of Sharkys the weekend of March 28th-29th and will showcase some of the top players in both men and women’s categories to kick off the focus Panama City Beach has to bring FUN beach sports to the area. We hope to see the local community come out to meet the Pros.

PCB Sand Sports and Seahaven will be working closely with Bay Area Sports Association a non-profit focused to support sports programs for the local kids to set up visits with the Pros to promote beach volleyball.

PCB Sand Sports is also coordinating additional leagues for Sharkys to provide Co-Ed 4’s on Tuesday nights and Co-Ed 6’s on Thursdays. For more information on the leagues and beach volleyball events and activities contact Roman Reese @ beachresearch@yahoo.com

More than a Sport, It's a Movement

PCB Sand Sports in partnership with the legendary Sharkys Restaurant and Tiki Bar along with Towne of Seahaven are preparing to add Beach Tennis and Beach Volleyball to their menu for FUN. The first partnership will begin with a “first ever” healthy Spring Break program for college students who visit the beach March 1st-18th with an introduction and “team challenge” to College vs. College competition. Beach Tennis is essentially doubles tennis played sand. Played on regulation beach volleyball court, and using regulation tennis racquets and a slightly depressurized tennis ball, players volley for points without letting the ball touch the sand.

Beach Tennis is easy to learn and most newcomers to the game can be up and running in as little as 30 minutes. Played at its highest pro level, however it is a fast-paced, intensely competitive game that delivers an amazing workout, even for hardcore athletes.

021909_sand_tennis_logo_sm Beach Tennis USA and PCB Sand Sports will be at the beach offering training, along with Pros from Tampa to provide coaching with play leading up to a final tournament challenge on Thursdays each week to give the students something fun to maintain their goal to meet each other and play.

In 2009 Beach Tennis USA will be enlisting the services of students around the country to serve as BTUSA University Directors, who will serve as “brand ambassadors” at their schools and help promote the growth of beach tennis through intramural programs.

Panama City Beach will be the first “event” promoting this concept. Approach to the colleges and is expected to continue to grow with one of the “hottest” new sports in America to foster further events and competition leading into a healthier approach to Spring Break for college students and families who visit our area.

Sharkys will maintain two permanent nets for Beach Tennis and will continue to partner with PCB Sand Sports to develop programming for leagues, tournaments and events
to lead into family spring break and summer. For more information contact beachresearch@yahoo.com.

PCB Sand Sports and Panama City Beach

PCB Sand Sports in partnership with the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau welcomed Beach Tennis USA President Jim Lorenzo and Daniel Weinberg Marketing Director along with the EVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour President Ross Balling. Russ Smith hosted the group at the Towne of Seaaven’s Origin as part of the hospitality coop from the local area. Many local properties offered to host these important guests and we appreciate the interest and excitement from across the community.

Richard Sanders, Director of Sports Marketing with the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau discussed dates and tournament schedule ideas to showcase Panama City Beach as one of the host cities for the EVP Pro Beach Tour in Summer 2009. The EVP Pro Beach Tour can bring exposure on Comcast Cable TV Network to more than 70 million homes.

PCB Sand Sports is working with both major beach sand sports associations to present the white sand beaches across Panama City Beach for the launch of a combined sporting event that will showcase “sand sports” . This will include Beach Soccer as we continue to share our vision of how this can help develop the new brand for PCB and grow activities for the local community as well as offer events and exposure to grow tourism in the area.

Rick Dye, President of Regions Bank and a founder of the non-profit Bay Areas Sports Association which is focused on developing sports for the local community by working closely with schools hosted a reception Friday night January 9th at Baja Grill. This provided an opportunity to introduce both sports to the local business community.

We had a great attendance with much interest in the “new sport and buzz of Beach Tennis” and discussion on how to work closer together. Beach Tennis showcased the “ball” used for Beach Tennis and provided t-shirts and hats as part of their hospitality for the attendees.

Dr. Jason Newsome, Director of Bay County Health Department was also in attendance and shared his input on the benefit sand sports can bring to the local community to get citizens out to play.

We discussed ideas to engage the schools within the community to expand opportunities for local leagues along with the tournaments and Pro Beach events for these hot and growing beach sand sports. Beach Tennis is now licensed in more than 7 global countries and can bring International visitors along with Beach Volleyball as the area prepares to open the new airport.