Team Sponsors for 2007!

You've probably noticed the sponsor column at the left. These are the good folks that have stepped up to support our team and help us to travel and compete in events around the country. We owe tremendous gratitude to each of them, here is an explanation of who they are:
Volleychick - Definitely not just for chicks, they make volley clothes and goods with style, and dare say, attitude. Hats, shirts and other goods can be spotted on us at events. Check them out, some very cool stuff you will want to be wearing!
Plastic Clothing - Volleyball specialty clothes, you'll catch us wearing their board shorts, very cool board pants and sweatshirts. Great style and comfort, look them up for some great volleygear!
18 Panel Athletic - A very cool startup company out of AZ. Great designs can be seen on our hats and shirts. They should have a website happening soon!
Wayne Steen: State Farm - Talk about a good neighbor, I've had State Farm insurance since I was a kid and have always gotten great service. Wayne has stepped forward to provide generous support for our volley-adventures. If your in the market for insurance, check them out!
Target Safe Security - Top security service in the region, providing alarms and systems to keep your home and business secure. They are generously sponsoring our team, check them out to help with all your security needs!
Smith Sport Sunglasses - Very cool and effective sunglass company. Their polar brown lenses are my favorite, enhancing depth perception and protecting the eyes while providing that ever important oh-so-cool appearance!
Badger Balm - Great company that puts out suncreen and body care products. This sport has us taking a beating from the elements every time we go out, good thing we've got badger to help fix us up!
Lucky 66 Volleyball Oasis - New facility in Albuquerque, with 2 soon to be 4 sand courts. Leagues and tourneys, they've helped us out and we may be doing more clinics there this year!

Again, thanks to all our sponsors and we hope you will support them to encourage their continued involvement with our sport!

Let the Season Begin!

OK, you may think this is a pretty wacky post to be writing about the start of the season when we never really stopped playing and since we had two outdoor tourneys last month and I've already played twice in Florida tournaments. The cold, hard reality is that both Loric and I have been super busy in the non-volley world keeping up with work and life. Plus a few minor injuries. Throw in some wacky spring weather that brought more late rain and snow than usual, and it's been feeling like a slow start to the season. Last week was the first time anybody in the state had a chance to get out during the week and practice. While we've played and won the local tourneys, everybody seems real rusty and the quality of play has not been that high in my opinion. We've got a good network and guys are supportive of each other to help bring our games up to the next level collectively, so I'd expect some quick improvements. Hopefully real quick, because this weekend is the first ever Sandia Mountain Volleyball Classic. This should give everybody a jolt. We've got about 50 teams signed up in 3 divisions for mens and womens, making this the biggest sand tourney in NM in a real long time. The open has some very solid teams traveling in from various places, including a few teams hopping over from the AVP in Glendale, AZ following their elimination. No matter the outcome, it is great to have this competition come into state to push everybody to pick up our games to the next level. That's why I kind of see it as the start of the season, Denver, Vail and California are not far behind for us. You can tell we also haven't made it out to any AVP tourneys yet. Well, that's a bit of a point of frustration. We were bounced last year from Huntington for not having points as my points had expired, so we couldn't get points, have no points now, and all the quali's are limited in size so we don't know when we can get points, although all the qualis so far have had low turnouts so we could have gotten in. So do we risk making travel plans for a tourney we won't know until the day before if we can get in? We'll see. You've probably also noticed the video at the top. My first attempt, hopefully more to come during the summer. Hopefully they'll get better than this hack job, but it's a start!

King of the Beach at Sneakerz

Saturday, April 28th we return to the sands of Sneakerz for the annual early season King of the Beach tournament. What the heck is that, you may ask? This is the perfect format for guys that don't have their partners figured out for the season yet and for others to play with guys they don't normally get to side with. In this tournament, players are set in pools of four and each player gets to partner with every other player in the pool. Those with the top point differentials and records advance to a new pool of players, until the final pool, which is decided by the player with the greatest margins of victory while playing with all the remaining players. Of course, the event could adopt the AVP format of the two finalists selecting from the eliminated players, with the exception of not being able to select their normal partner. I'll list players entered for the event, you can let me know if you are interested in playing or call Tavake directly.
UPDATE:
It was a long, hot day with lots and lots of playing. We had 18 or so participants, good numbers for early in the season with a bunch of guys away and others not wanting to get sandy before their indoor matches that evening. After a double elim KoB format, the battle of attrition came down to Loric and Myself advancing with a bye to the finals. Chris and Tony fought their way out of the last pool. After a roll off, the teams were set. Chris and Loric wrecked Tony and myself who had run out of gas in the final match, played under the lights. So, for the second year, Loric wears the crown and I get the court jester shoes ;-). Here's the final 4 finish:
1) Loric Box
2) Adam Rubel
3) Chris Roosilid
4) Tony Shimkus

April 14th Charlie’s Sandbox Tourney

Looks like summer is here! The 14^th is the first full on outdoor sand tourney, and the event will have men's, women's and possibly juniors teams. With 6 outdoor sand courts, we can run some exciting formats, and word on the street is we'll have some sponsor prizes to offer as well.

UPDATE: It was a wild tournament last weekend. Most of the state was getting snowed on Friday. When I woke up on Friday, we had some real heavy frost here in Santa Fe, and playing a beach volleyball tournament that same day seemed kind of crazy. We started the day using a single indoor sand court, along side the ladies. In typical New Mexico fashion, the sun came out and the temperatures started to warm, so by ten o'clock we were outside and breaking in Charlie's 4 new sand courts. With ten men's teams and 6 women's, there was lots of ball being played. teams seemed kind of rusty at times, maybe because it is so early in the season and nobody is playing during the week and irregularly on the weekends. The finals for the men were real strange. First Loric cramped, which never happens, so I started to do a bit more like run up and block. Then My legs locked down to my ankles, which doesn't really happen, and the whole thing is real strange because even though we were playing off all day, we didn't have any extra games and it was nice and cool outside. Anyhow, the pain made us focus and we pulled out a W in two games. Steph and Meredith won on the women's side, and Paul showed up later in the day so hopefully we'll have some pics to post soon. Here are the results of the men's tourney:
1) Adam Rubel/ Loric Box 2) Rob Pierce/ Chris Roosilid 3) Jeff Poole/ Tony Shimkus 4) Desi Vigil/ Larry Cornwell 5) Steve Seel/ Fred Ader 5) Mike Bien/ Gary 7) Olli/ Ruskin 7) Brad/ Tudy 9) Rich/ Eddie 9) Rich/ Bryan
Next big event is the Sandia Mountain Classic, which is shaping up to be a real big event. I'll write a bit more on it later...

New Mexico Beach Volleyball 2007

This could be the best year for sand volleyball in New Mexico in a really long time. With Charlie's Sandbox addition of four outdoor sandcourts, bringing the total at the facility to 6 outdoor and 2 indoor sand, we have the possibility of running larger events. For the first time in a while, Men and Women will have concurrent tournaments at that location. Sneakerz remains in the mix, running its annual summer sand series with monthly volleyball tournaments. Finally, we are looking at two special events in state taking off and establishing themselves for the first time this year. There will be a major event in May at Charlie's Sandbox - The Sandia Mountain New Mexico Volleyball Classic. This event promises to offer cash and prizes that is already drawing in top players from around the country and offering competition for all levels of play. There will also be a major tournament in Taos July 28th-29th. This event will feature open play on three sand courts and amateur divisions on the grass. There may be additional events added to te schedule in upcoming weeks. All this means good things for the growth of volleyball in New Mexico. Here is the official Sand Schedule for New Mexico, 2007:

Date	Title	Surface	Format	Location
4/14	Sandbox Tourney	Sand	2’s-W,M,Jr	Charlie’s Sandbox
4/28	Sneakerz King of the Beach	Sand	2’s – KoB	Sneakerz
5/12	Sandia Mountain New Mexico Volleyball Classic	Sand	2’s – M,W (Open, A, B)	Charlie’s Sandbox
5/19	ARVCRebels.com	Grass	2’s-M,W,Jr (Sat) 2’s-Coed; 4’s-Coed (Sun)	Manzano Mesa Park
5/26	Sneakerz Series #1	Sand	2’s-M	Sneakerz
6/9	Sandbox Tourney	Sand	2’s-W,M,Jr	Charlie’s Sandbox
6/10	ABQ Volleyfest Series #1	Grass	2’s-M,W,Jr	Manzano Mesa Park
6/23-24	ABQ Volleyfest Series #2	Grass	2’s-M,W,Jr (Sat) 2’s-Coed; 4’s-Coed (Sun)	Manzano Mesa Park
6/30	Sneakerz Series #2	Sand	2’s-M	Sneakerz
7/8	ABQ Volleyfest Series #3	Grass	2’-Coed (Aspen Format)	Manzano Mesa Park
7/14	Sandbox Tourney	Sand	2’s-W,M,Jr	Charlie’s Sandbox
7/21-22	ABQ Volleyfest Series #2	Grass	2’s-M,W,Jr (Sat) 2’s-Coed; 4’s-Coed (Sun)	Manzano Mesa Park
7/28-29	Taos Solar Spike Open	Sand (open)/ Grass (other)	2’s-M,W (Open,A,B); Jr	Taos
8/4	Sneakerz Series #3	Sand	2’s-M	Sneakerz
8/11-12	ABQ Volleyfest Final Series	Grass	2’s-M,W,Jr (Sat) 2’s-Coed; 4’s-Coed (Sun)	Manzano Mesa Park
8/18	Sandbox Tourney	Sand	2’s-W,M,Jr	Charlie’s Sandbox
8/25	Sneakerz Series Finale	Sand	2’s-M	Sneakerz
9/15	Sandbox Tourney	Sand	2’s-W,M,Jr	Charlie’s Sandbox

Contact Information

Location	Director/ Event Info
Charlie’s Sandbox	M-Adam Rubel; nmsvbteam[at]gmail.com W-Stephanie Sauer; stephsauer14[at]yahoo.com With 8 sand courts, tournaments here promise to be a good time. Cash and prizes for all events. $20-36 Entry Fee More info: http://desertsandvb.blogspot.com/ http://desertnmwsandvball.blogspot.com/
Sneakerz	Tavake Misailegalu; 505-720-4209 2 sand courts and longest running tournament series in New Mexico. High payouts and year-end bonus pool. Cash Prizes. $30 Entry Fee. More info: http://www.sneakerzsportsbar.com/
Sandia Mountain Classic	Sonny Marquez www.plasticclothing.com; 505-269-6119; sonny[at]plasticclothing.com First year and first major tournament in NM in a long time. Top players from around the country as well as multiple divisions for all skill levels. Special events. All entries receive Tee shirt. $60 Entry fee, registration online at Plastic website. More info visit: http://sandiavolleyball.blogspot.com/
Abq Volleyfest and grass Events	Fred Ader: 505-480-4196, fmader[at]sandia.gov Long running grass series of tournaments, featuring multiple levels of competition. Cash and prizes. $20 entry fee, pre-reg. More info: http://www.arvcrebels.com/
Taos Solar Spike Open	First year event hoping to draw teams from around the region. Run on three sand courts and many grass courts. Cash and prizes. $50/team entry fee. http://www.solarspikevolleyball.com

2007: Loric & Adam's early travel scedule

We had the chance to sit down this past weekend and pour over some of the many schedules put out by different tours and events and we have come up with our tentative travel schedule. It's going up here to let you all know about some great events and for those that are interested in tracking our progress during the year. We are real excited about this upcoming season. Both of us have been training real hard and are in very good physical shape. Having the opportunity to play in the sand throughout the winter has kept our skills sharp and our game at a good level. While we were considering some of the other AVP stops, the tentative schedule at this point shows more events that are small draws and off the beaches, frankly at places we aren't all that interested in traveling to. We would have liked to get out to CA for an EVP, but Loric's teaching schedule means we will have to miss those. I am hoping to pick up a partner for an East End tourney in Florida in March, as I will be out there on business anyhow. And, the exciting news is a couple of major events here in New Mexico. Lucky 66 is in the final stages of piecing together a large event that will draw national caliber players. We are also working on getting a Taos event together at the end of July that will have the promise of a great draw, as new sand courts are being built and grass divisions can be offered as well. There will also be three bars running events in Albuquerque throughout the summer: Charlie' Sandbox will have 8 sand courts; Lucky 66 will have 4; and Sneakerz will have 2. This should prove to be a great summer for volleyball! Here is our early travel plans:
3/3 - Clearwater Beach, FL - East End - Adam is picking up a partner for this event.
3/24 - Delray, FL - East End - Adam will pick up a partner for this event.
4/19 - Dallas, TX - AVP - If we can somehow be allowed into the draw and be given the opportunity to build points. Very tentative travel site.
5/3 - Huntington Beach, CA - AVP - Only with a guarantee from the AVP we can get in this year.
5/5 - Santa Monica, CA - CBVA
5/12 - Sandia Mountain Volleyball Classic - Big event in NM, Check it.
6/2 - Denver, CO - CPVA - This one is looking more likely than the one the following week.
6/16 - Vail, CO - King of the Mountain - The mighty Vail tourney
7/5 - Seaside Heights, NJ - AVP - I've got family back there, so it should make this stop easy.
7/7 - NJ - Local tourney, looks like GAV is running one.
7/14 - Manhattan Beach, CA - GAV - Coast to coast, this is vacation time, should be a great tourney.
7/19 - Long Beach, CA - AVP - Hopefully we will have a whole bunch of AVP points by this one.
7/21 - Play del Rey, CA - CBVA - More volley on the beach
7/28 or 8/4 - Taos, NM - One of these dates, this should be a real fun tourney.
8/9 - Manhattan Beach, CA - AVP - So long as they are allowed to run it, this is the big one.
8/11 - Ocean Beach, CA - CBVA
9/1 - Aspen, CO - Motherlode - The mother of all lode tourneys, always fun.

Hopefully we will get the local schedule together in the next couple of weeks!

2007 AVP Schedule & Draw Size - Tentative

This is a controversial subject for some bizarre reason. This is the latest version that was leaked out on the AVP forum last week. It may be helpful for some folks making travel arrangements or scheduling tourneys if any of the tour dates are a consideration. Unfortunately, there seems to be few stops on actual beaches and the draw size for many of the events has been cut down to 24, meaning qualifier draws will be limited based upon points accrued in the previous 365 days. Loric and I were considering the opening Miami date, but given that it looks to be a smaller draw, we'll probably have to try our luck at one of the CA stops, maybe see if we will be allowed to play in Huntington this year. Anyhow, here is the info I captured from the site (It does vary from some other version floating around, guess we'll know for sure some time in Feb):
UPDATE - SCHEDULE RELEASED

Miami, FL	Apr. 13 - Apr. 15	FSN
Dallas, TX	Apr. 19 - Apr. 22	FSN
Huntington Beach, CA	May 3 - May 6	FSN
Glendale, AZ	May 10 - May 13	FSN
Hermosa Beach, CA	May 17 - May 20	FSN
Louisville, KY	May 24 - May 27	FSN
Tampa, FL	May 31 - Jun. 3	FSN
Atlanta, GA	Jun. 7 - Jun. 10	FSN
Charleston, SC	Jun. 14 - Jun. 17	FSN
Seaside Heights, NJ	Jul. 5 - Jul. 8	FSN
Long Beach, CA	Jul. 19 - Jul. 22	NBC and FSN
Chicago, IL	Aug. 2 - Aug. 5	NBC and FSN
Manhattan Beach, CA	Aug. 9 - Aug. 12	NBC and FSN
Boston, MA	Aug. 16 - Aug. 19	NBC and FSN
Brooklyn, NY	Aug. 23 - Aug. 26	NBC and FSN
Cincinnati, OH	Aug. 30 - Sept. 2	FSN
Las Vegas, NV	Sept. 6 - Sept. 8	FSN
San Francisco, CA	Sept. 14 - Sept. 16	FSN